Foreign Ministry: We are taking all measures to help Georgian sailors detained in Libya

Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that they are doing their utmost to help three Georgian sailors who were detained in Libya last year for illegally crossing the border and smuggling contraband fuel.

The statement came after the sister of one of the detainees appealed to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry to act more effectively as the sailors had to stay in "unbearable conditions” in prison.

The Foreign Ministry stated that the body, as well as Georgia’s mission to the United Nations and the country’s embassies to Egypt, Turkey, Greece and Italy, is trying to ensure support to the sailors.

We have addressed the embassies of Hungary, Turkey and Italy in Libya to provide humanitarian support to the sailors. The Turkish side accepted our request and provided the sailors with food and drinking water, and also carried out emergency medical service for one of the sailors,” the ministry stated.

The ministry also announced that they had hired a lawyer to protect the interests of the detainees and the lawyer has already met with the sailors and familiarized himself with the case materials.

Georgia’s Embassy to Egypt also requested a meeting with the Libyan authorities. However, Libya still faces a complicated military-political situation that makes the meeting hard for now,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

The three Georgians were among the 11 crew members of a Turkish ship sailing under the Tanzanian flag who were detained in Libya on August 30, 2017.

Libya Herald wrote that the Tanzanian-flagged oil products tanker had been tracked for several days according to a coast guard official in Tripoli. 

The 43 year-old vessel, once called the Amari, allegedly contained 1,160,000 litres of fuel, the media  claimed.