asked the criminal justice expert five important questions about compensation for cable damage.
The Central Criminal Police (KRP) suspects that the Eagle S oil tanker damaged the electric cable between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day and four telecommunications cables.
Nine crew members are suspected of aggravated destruction and gross telecommunications harassment.
The transmission system company Fingrid estimates in December To Kauppalehtithat the repair of an electric cable costs over EUR 30 million.
The telecommunications company Cinia was told that repairing one cable damage costs about half a million euros.
According to the company, the costs are significantly influenced by the type of repair of the cable damage.
We asked the lawyer five important questions about compensation.
Questions answers the assistant professor of criminal law Tatu Hyttinen From the University of Turku.
1. Can cable companies claim compensation from the Eagle S ship owned by the Caravela shipping company?
– In principle, the person who caused intentional or negligent damage, that is to say, negligence, is obliged to compensate the amount of damage to another.
– In certain situations, the employer may also be responsible for his or her employee’s errors or neglect if the employee works incorrectly when working.
– If the shipping company is in the position of the employer in this case, it may be held accountable if the workers have caused damage.
2. Can sailors suspected of crimes be liable themselves?
– An intentional or negligent crime may be subject to a so -called crime -based liability.
– At a general level, the court may jointly and jointly and severally claim the damage. In this case, the amount would be distributed among the convicts.
– If anyone had no money to pay, the others would pay its share to get the injured person to get their money.
– If the employer had to pay compensation for his or her offenders, it could require the employees later.
3. If the court concluded that it was negligence, would it be possible to claim compensation?
– Yes. Liability for damages also occurs if one causes negligent damage.
4. Could the seized ship or its oil glass be ordered to compensate the cable companies?
– If this case ends up in a court criminal case, any claims for damages can be dealt with in a separate civilian law.
– If the court ordered the damages to be paid, it could also order the ship to be in the security of the shield as long as the compensation has been paid.
– If damages were not paid, then we would have to consider what to do with seized property in order to cover the courts imposed by the court.
– If the ship’s oil cargo is owned by someone other than the shipping company, it may be quite difficult to use the cargo as a compensation for damages.
5. If the court considered that in this case the offense was committed, could the Eagle S ship be ordered to the state as a means of offense?
– The law, in principle, allows the state to determine the property or object to the state if they have been used to commit a crime.
– However, this is not possible if the instrument belongs to anything other than the author. If a member of the ship’s crew were condemned, for example, for aggravated destruction, the ship could not be ordered to the state because it belongs to the shipping company.
See also how Crime Commissioner Risto Lohi commented on the Eagle S. -Jan. 22):