The tragedy of the cruise ship Mermaid occurred in May 2019 in Budapest, near the Margaret Bridge, when the Viking Sigyn Hotel’s ship collided with the cruise ship, and crashed underneath it, sank. There were 35 on board the cruise ship: 33 South Korean tourists and a Hungarian crew of two. Seven tourists were rescued, the bodies of 27 victims were found, and a South Korean passenger is still registered.
The criminal trial of Ukrainian captain Viking Sigyn also began last September in the Central Pest Control District Court.
In his statement, Tibor Ipolia indicated that the captain of the Ukrainian ship after the hotel ship collided with a mermaid had been questioned as a suspect by the Budapest Police Headquarters on the basis of justified suspicion of misconduct.
Budapest VI. And seventh. A year ago, the public prosecutor submitted a request to order an investigative judge to issue a criminal oversight order to the captain to ensure his presence in the proceedings. The court has ordered and expanded criminal surveillance since then, requiring the accused to report to the police once a month. The attorney general wrote that due to the pandemic, the suspect had duly exempted himself from some requests, but it can be argued that he did not get away with it.
At the request of MTI, Ferenc Raab, deputy spokesperson for the capital’s attorney general’s office, confirmed the message that the suspect is in Ukraine. He added that the Criminal Supervision Institution allowed the accused to travel abroad and imposed on him only an obligation to appear before the police at the specified times.
In a statement, Tibor Ebulia wrote that the attorney general’s office suggested that the court extend the period of criminal supervision until January 30, 2021, for another four months on conditions that have not changed, rejecting the defense attorney’s request to end criminal oversight. The court also extended the coercive measure, but imposed an obligation on the suspect to report not in person but over the phone.
The Attorney General indicated:
The investigation is continuing, and more witnesses still need to be questioned through legal aid to clarify the facts
The Public Prosecutor’s Office challenged the coercive measure because, in their view, the mobile app no longer qualifies as a physical restriction under today’s modern technology, and thus does not fulfill the stated purpose under the law.
Tibor Ebulia reminded that according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, criminal supervision restricts the right of the accused to freedom of movement and to freely choose the place of residence or residence. According to the prosecutor’s office, only a coercive rule of conduct can be established that restricts the accused’s right to freedom of movement in the context of this coercive procedure.
The appeal will be decided in the second instance by the capital court.
All Infostart articles about the mermaid accident can be read here!
Opening image: Koszticsák Szilárd
