Japan puts Russian mariner behind bars for three years

The District Court of the Japanese city of Asahikawa (the Hokkaido prefecture) sentenced Pavel Dobryansky, third mate of the Russian trawler Amur, which collided with Japan’s Hokko Maru No. 8 fishing vessel in May 2021, to three years in prison with a stay of sentence for five years on April 27, a source in the Russian Consulate General’s Office in Sapporo told TASS.

“He was found guilty. The court sentenced him to three years in prison with a stay of a five-year sentence. In fact, it is similar to a five-year suspended sentence. According to the lawyer, he (Dobryansky) will be deported to Russia as he has no visa,” the source said. Prosecutors requested 3.5 years for Dobryansky.

Japan’s judicial system often passes judgments with a stay of sentence. The party accused does not serve time in jail if he commits no offenses in the mentioned period.

The incident occurred on May 26, 2021, about 23 kilometers off the coast of Hokkaido. Three of the five crew members of the Hokko Maru No. 8 boat died as a result of the collision. The Amur is owned by the Sakhalin-based fishing company Amurskoye registered in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The trial of the captain’s mate started last September. In 2021, a Japanese court also brought in a guilty verdict against the 64-year-old captain of a Japanese vessel, who was sentenced to three years probation.