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Chinese captain in Baltic Sea cable damage case appears before Hong Kong court

A Hong Kong court assigned an attorney to the captain of a Hong Kong registered ship accused of damaging undersea cable in the Baltic Sea. The case was adjourned to September so that the prosecution could gather more evidence.

Wan Wenguo was the captain of NewNew Polar Bear container ship when he appeared before the Eastern magistrates court in Hong Kong without legal representation. The court assigned him a duty attorney.

According to a Hong Kong charging document, the 43-year old Chinese national was accused of causing "criminal damages" on an underwater natural-gas pipeline and submarine telecom cable between Finland and Estonia in October 2023.

The document stated that the defendant had "without legal excuse damaged property belonging to someone else" and was "careless about whether such property would get damaged".

The magistrate adjourned this case for three more months, until September 26. This was after the prosecution stated that it needed time to collect documents and other evidence with the Finnish and Estonian authorities.

Wan is also facing two additional charges for alleged violation of shipping regulations, including the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. Wan was not granted bail during his first hearing after his arrest in May. He was then remanded into custody. Wan chose to not apply for bail again on Friday, and was placed in detention.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the Baltic Sea region is on high alert against sabotage. This follows a series of failures of power cables and gas pipelines as well as telecoms.

Some European governments accuse Russia of hybrid attacks, sabotage and the sabotage critical infrastructure. Moscow denies such accusations, claiming that the West seeks to undermine Russian interests by waging an information warfare.

The Finnish authorities claim that the NewNew Polar Bear cut the Balticconnector subsea pipeline which connects Finland and Estonia below the Baltic Sea by dragging the anchor along the seabed.

The Estonian Police suspects that the ship damaged the telecoms cables linking Estonia with Finland and Sweden between October 8-9, before striking the gas pipeline as it was heading to a Russian port near Saint Petersburg.

The Finnish and Estonian authorities have yet to reach a conclusion on whether the damage is accidental or deliberate. (Reporting from James Pomfret, Hong Kong; Additional Reporting by Anne Kauranen, Helsinki; Editing done by Kate Mayberry).

(source: Reuters)