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Hebei Spirit officers gain hope as protest grows
31 July 2008
ITF officials who met today with the two Hebei Spirit officers held in Korea said that the men were determined to prove their innocence and had been heartened by the rising chorus of support for them.
The two men, Captain Jasprit Chalwa and Chief Officer Syam Chetan, were reported to be more optimistic about their future after receiving news of a joint National Union of Seafarers of India / Maritime Union of India demonstration in Mumbai today which resulted in an Indian Government pledge to take up their plight with the Korean Government and IMO, and a promise from the Korean Consul to raise the matter in Seoul.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft, who will tomorrow meet with Justice Ministry officials in Seoul on the men’s behalf, commented: “The Hebei Spirit spill was and is a desperately serious matter for those affected – including thousands of people living or working in the area. They need compensation and help, and we can only hope to understand their shock and outrage at the severe and unexpected damage to their lands and livelihood.”
“The desire to prevent such an accident occurring again is praiseworthy and doubtless motivated by the best intentions. However, two men who have already been found innocent of involvement have been caught up in that effort and it is time to stand back, reconsider and then release them.”
Shigeru Wada, ITF Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary; Mahendra Sharma, ITF Assistant Asia-Pacific Regional Secretary; and Hye Kyung Kim, ITF Co-ordinator for Korea, met Captain Chalwa and Chief Officer Chetan in Seoul today.
Mahendra Sharma said: “Capt Chalwa and CO Chetan are in reasonable spirits. They are not in a detention facility, and have free movement should they wish it, but with the one major proviso that they stay in Seoul and away from their homes and families. Naturally they’re homesick and frustrated, and they want to make one thing clear: if a proper investigation requires them to be in Korea at some point in the future then they will gladly do so. Until then they would like to get on with their lives as the free and innocent men a Korean court decreed them to be.”
Today’s meetings and demonstration come as part of a rising concern about the justice of refusing the two men the right to leave Korea and follow a joint appeal for their release by the Round Table of international shipping associations (BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), International Shipping Federation (ISF), INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG), and the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association
ENDS
For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk
International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org
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