Swedish court seizes vessel Caffa in first case following request from Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office - Kravchenko
Kyiv • UNN
Sweden has seized the vessel Caffa for the illegal export of products from occupied territories. This is the first case of a seizure based on an international request from the Prosecutor's Office.
A court in Sweden today seized the vessel "Caffa" — the first case where, upon a request for international legal assistance from the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, a foreign court approved the seizure of a vessel that may have been involved in the illegal export of Ukrainian products from the temporarily occupied territory, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported on social media on Thursday, UNN writes.
Today, a court in Sweden seized the vessel "CAFFA". This is the first case where, at the request of the Ukrainian prosecutor's office for international legal assistance, a foreign court approved the seizure of a vessel that could have been involved in the illegal export of Ukrainian products from the temporarily occupied territory
According to the investigation, the Prosecutor General reported, "CAFFA" systematically violated the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine with the aim of causing harm to the interests of the state.
"To conceal this activity, a scheme with false registration was used: in international databases, the vessel is marked as 'Guinea False'," he noted.
As Kravchenko indicated, on March 12, 2024, the Office of the Prosecutor General appealed to the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Sweden with a request for international legal assistance. The Ukrainian side requested a search of the vessel, interrogation of the captain and crew members, as well as the seizure of the "CAFFA". "Swedish competent authorities promptly began executing the request. Already the following week after receiving it, a search of the vessel was conducted and witnesses were interrogated," he added.
"Today, this process received an important procedural continuation — the court approved the seizure of the vessel. This is a concrete result of international legal cooperation between Ukraine and our partners. Daily work, exchange of information, collection and transfer of additional evidence have yielded results: the vessel is seized," Kravchenko emphasized.
"Russia continues to loot Ukrainian resources in the temporarily occupied territories. But Ukraine systematically documents these crimes: establishes routes, identifies vessels, records illegal entries into the occupied territory, and uses all mechanisms of international legal assistance.
This case is a clear signal that no manipulations with flags, routes, or registration will help avoid accountability," the Prosecutor General pointed out.
He emphasized: "Ukraine sees, records, and proves this."
"We continue to work," Kravchenko concluded.
Sweden seizes vessel Caffa at the request of another state29.04.26, 23:43 • 3201 view