Helsinki Court Sentences Fitburg Crew Over Cable Damage

Helsinki District Court Staff, Courts of Finland
November 5, 2026

Helsinki District Court has sentenced the captain and boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg to prison over subsea cable damage in the Gulf of Finland. The November 5 decision imposed a three-year, six-month term on the captain and a two-year, ten-month term on the boatswain for aggravated sabotage. The case concerns the vessel's movements on December 31, 2025. The judgment is not final and may be appealed, making this a new trial-court outcome rather than a completed appeal process.

According to the court's published account, Fitburg traveled outside Finnish territorial waters while dragging an anchor chain and anchor stock across the seabed for roughly 130 kilometers. The route crossed nine telecommunications and power cables and a gas pipeline. Two telecommunications cables were damaged; the other cables and pipeline were exposed to a risk of damage. The notice says the anchor was raised after Finnish authorities detected the dragging and contacted the vessel. It does not describe all nine cables, or the pipeline, as having been broken.

The court concluded that the two crew members must have known the anchor was down while the ship was underway. Yle reports that both denied committing a crime and sought dismissal of the charges. The court also determined that it could hear the case, pointing to the intentional nature of the offenses and their effects in Finland. These are findings made in this particular proceeding. The reported decision concerns the responsibility of the captain and boatswain; it does not establish an operation directed by any state.

The court ordered the defendants into custody and made them jointly liable for compensation relating to repair and investigation costs, largely as requested by the injured parties. A separate charge of aggravated interference with telecommunications was dismissed because the court treated that conduct as included in the sabotage offense. The unanimous decision followed eight hearing days between September 8 and October 8. For the subsea cable sector, the current development is this judicial decision about confirmed telecom cable damage, with its non-final status remaining part of the record.

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