Court hearing against eight detained Lankan fishermen in Madagascar on Monday

The court hearing against eight Sri Lankan fishermen detained after they entered Madagascar’s Exclusive Economic Zone is due to take place on August 4, Monday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stepped into to provide a Sinhala-French interpretation for the upcoming court hearing  against a group of Sri Lankan fishermen who have been detained in Madagascar.

Eight Sri Lankan fishermen are currently detained in Madagascar on allegations related to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing within Madagascar’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Consular Affairs Division and in coordination with the Sri Lanka High Commission in Seychelles—accredited to Madagascar—has been actively engaged in the matter, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment  Arun Hemachandra told Timesonline.

He said reecognizing the need for appropriate linguistic support in the legal proceedings, arrangements have been made to provide the interpretation facility.

“The Ministry is also working closely with the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and is pursuing all appropriate diplomatic avenues to ensure due process is observed and to facilitate the early release of the detained Sri Lankan nationals,” he said.

“Consular assistance continues to be extended in accordance with established procedures, with the wellbeing and legal rights of the fishermen being given the utmost priority’, he said..

Earlier the fishermen had expressed concern that lack of proper legal support for them would be a disadvantage when their case is being taken up as when the case was taken up the last time there appeared to be a communication gap. The Court proceedings in Madagascar, had been conducted in French

The family members earlier met with Deputy Minister of Fisheries Rathna Gamage and called for the intervention regarding their case.

The vessel had departed from the Wellamankara fishing harbour on April 05 and was detained on June 2 when they were returning to the country.

They have been accused of the failure  to produce valid entry documents or fishing licenses and tampering with navigation data and the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The Police discovered 16,125 kilograms of frozen shark heads, 1,618 kilograms of dried shark fillets, 23 kilograms of dried shark fins, and 4 kilograms of dried shark gills aboard. The shark species are listed under Appendix II of the CITES agreement.

Family members said they were depositing money to an account number in Madagascar for the meals of those detained persons.