In July 2019, the disaster involving the fishing vessel “Ivan Golubets,” which sank after a fire in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Mauritania, received widespread attention. Mr. N-ku, a resident of the Odesa region, died on board during the fire.

Given the consistent disregard for this tragedy by both executive authorities and law enforcement agencies, the “Barristers” Law Firm, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Independent Maritime Trade Union, is providing legal assistance to the victim’s family.

In particular, due to the persistent refusal of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), the State Fiscal Service (DFS), the National Police, and the Prosecutor’s Office to recognize the death of a Ukrainian citizen as involving the loss of state property on an especially large scale or as constituting any criminal offense, on January 21, 2020, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv issued a ruling ordering, pursuant to a petition filed by the deceased’s father, in accordance with Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, to enter into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations information regarding the commission of criminal offenses by the heads of the State Agency for Fisheries of Ukraine, the state-owned enterprise “Service,” the company “Evial Business LP,” and officials of the “Russian Maritime Register of Shipping” had committed criminal offenses provided for in Part 1 of Article 11, Article 119, Part 2 of Article 149, Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 206-2, Part 2 of Article 212, Part 1 of Article 249, Part 2 of Article 271, Part 4 of Article 358, Part 2 of Article 364, Part 2 of Article 364-1, and Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

And on January 29, 2020, by a decision of the Saratsky District Court of the Odesa Region, based on a petition filed by the deceased’s father, it was established that Ukrainian citizen N. had died at his workplace, specifically as a crew member (engineer) of the merchant (fishing) vessel “Ivan Golubets” (IMO 8859782), flying the Georgian flag and owned by the Ukrainian state (the vessel’s owner is the state-owned enterprise “Service”; the lessee is the Canadian company “Evial Business Lp”; and the vessel’s classification society is the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping).

In the engine room of the vessel “Ivan Golubets,” where a fire (emergency incident) broke out on July 19, 2019. Efforts to protect the rights of the deceased fisherman’s family are ongoing and will be carried out even if certain government agencies and their officials continue to remain inactive in this matter.