The Zaporizhia region police have initiated a criminal case following a report by a relative on the disappearance of Volodymyr Horbenko, the captain of the Crimea-based Nord vessel.
“A criminal case has been opened under the Article 115 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code with additional qualification as a ‘missing person,'” the regional police’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
This is the routine procedure when a missing person report is filed, it said.
On Jan. 29, Horbenko’s brother reported his disappearance to the Melitopol police department in Zaporizhia region, Ukrainian National Police spokesperson Yaroslav Trakalo told Interfax.
On March 25, 2018, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine detained the Nord and its ten-member crew in the Sea of Azov.
Its captain was accused of violating the rules for sailing to and from the occupied Ukrainian territory with a view to harming the country’s interests and illegal fishing on industrial scale.
A court in Kherson released the captain on a personal surety. During the preliminary inquiry, Horbenko stayed with relatives in Melitopol in Zaporizhia region. On June 19, the court refused to extend the captain’s obligations not to visit Crimea.
The Obolonsky district court has been hearing the case since Oct. 16, 2018.
On Jan. 10, the court adjourned until Feb. 1.
