On Tuesday, a Tripoli court held a new trial session for two Russian sailors arrested on counts of smuggling on June 20 on board an oil vessel.
The oil vessel which had 12 crewmen on deck was smuggling over 5000 tons of diesel fuel. Ten were released upon efforts done by Russian Foreign Ministry and Chechen President.
The captain and his aide are still facing charges as the Libyan Public Prosecution is pressing 5 years jail time for each on counts of smuggling, while Russian Contact Group for Libya is still exerting efforts to release the two sailors.
Russia Today reported a diplomatic source as saying that the first talks held with Libya for releasing them was between the Head of the Presidential Council Fayez Al-Sirraj and the Head of the Russian Contact Group in October 2016. Then the release was brought up in talks between the two countries in many events including meetings between the Libyan and Russian Foreign Ministers.
“We were hoping Libya’s Chargé d'affaires in Russia would help as he vowed to release the two Russians soon but the Libyans side took no real step toward that.” Russia Today’s source added.
