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Incident

Azerbaijani embassy sends note to Georgian Foreign Ministry concerning Azerbaijanis on board Buket ship

22 August 2009 11:27 (UTC +04:00)

Farhad Mammadov said he had been to Poti to concern himself with the fate of the Azerbaijanis.
â€œThey feel normal. They have not faced pressure or insult. Our sailors are being held on board the ship as suspects,â€ he said.

Mammadov said the embassy had sent a note to Georgian Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry for the release of the Azerbaijanis.
â€œWe have not received a reply yet. The hearing will be held. Fine is not ruled out. The Turkish company owning the ship will pay the fine. The captain of the ship has been sentenced to two months in jail. The decision may be commuted within a week. Such a decision also concerns our citizens. We will decide what to do after the court passes decision next week,â€ he said.

Officers of coast guard department of Georgian Interior Ministryâ€™s Border Police detained ship â€œBuketâ€ sailing under the flag of Panama. The ship was detained because navigation rules had been violated, the ship had illegally crossed Georgian border several times and arrived in the occupied territory of Abkhazia. The frontier guards said the detained ship had left a Turkish port for Sukhumi. The crew members have been arrested, 13 of them are Turkish citizens, 4 Azerbaijanis. The ship was loaded with 2 tones of gasoline and 700 tones of diesel fuel. The detained ship was brought to Poti port, the base of the coast guard department.