Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jun 2004
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2004 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://connect.sptimes.com/contactus/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: Richard Bockman and Jamie Thompson
Note: Staff writer Brady Dennis contributed to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

FIGHT THE DRUG WAR, PAY THE BILL

The Yalta Crewmen Are Free To Go Home, But heir Acquittal In Tampa Comes At 
A High Price

TAMPA - A year ago, off the coast of Venezuela, a British war ship 
intercepted a freighter bound for Europe and bearing nearly 4 tons of cocaine.

Though the vessel was not coming to the United States, in the war on drugs 
it is U.S. taxpayers who will bear the high cost of the case.

Sixteen Lithuanian and Ukrainian crewmen were brought to Tampa and held 
nearly a year. This week, after a 11/2-month trial, a federal jury returned 
not a single guilty verdict.

The cost for all this could top $1-million, according to one of the 16 
court-appointed lawyers, some of whom flew to Lithuania, the Ukraine and 
Panama to take testimony.

"We've become the Big Brother of the drug industry," said defense attorney 
Grady C. Irvin Jr. "If we're guarding the Pacific Ocean and we're 
intercepting drugs bound for other countries, should that be the 
responsibility of U.S. taxpayers? Why should U.S. taxpayers be footing that 
bill?"

"I can't answer that," said the prosecutor, Joseph Ruddy. "That's really a 
kind of philosophical, rhetorical question. The law says we should do it, 
we did it."

He thought for a moment and added this:

"If the United States interdicts this quantity of drugs, which by the 
quantity alone indicates narcotics traffickers of the highest level and 
fails to prosecute, it would be a dereliction of duty."

* * *

Cigarettes in shirt pockets, speaking halting English, the men congregated 
at Clink Street Bar & Grill in Pinellas County on Thursday evening. They 
ordered whiskey and beer and mingled with their attorneys - and six members 
of the jury who came to celebrate with them.

"Have a safe journey home," 67-year-old juror Paul Lembo, of New Port 
Richey, told the men, embracing them. "We did not think you were guilty."

Released from a Tampa immigration office just 24 hours earlier, the men 
enjoyed a buffet of sliced meat, crab dip and crackers.

The bar quieted with the arrival of the Ambassador of Lithuania, Vygaudas 
Usackas, tall, distinguished, in a dark gray suit. He had boarded a plane 
from Portland early Thursday and headed to Tampa Bay to greet the men who 
have become front-page news back home.

Usackas said the men deserve a formal apology and compensation for the time 
they spent in jail.

"Lithuania has carried the shadow of this case," he said. "I'm glad it's 
resolved."

* * *

It began late in 2002, when owners of the M/V Yalta contacted crewing 
agencies in the Ukraine and Lithuania. Irvin said those countries are flush 
with experienced crewmen happy to work for what for others would consider 
low wages.

The men were flown to Panama and set out for sea aboard the Yalta in 
mid-June 2003.

The Yalta took a north/northeast course but then dipped south, toward the 
coast of Colombia. In the middle of the night, cargo was loaded on the Yalta.

The next day, June 23, 2003, sailors from the British warship Iron Duke 
stopped the 500-foot freighter, the U.S. Coast Guard boarded and discovered 
the cocaine.

The crewmen were taken to Tampa; if convicted as charged, they could have 
drawn 25 years to life in prison.

The government touted the arrests as the latest in a string of successes of 
Panama Express, a Tampa-based operation that targets traffickers who ship 
cocaine in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

In their defense, the crewmen said they did not know the Yalta was 
transporting drugs. The lone Colombian arrested, trafficker Daniel Effren 
Marquez-Silva, pleaded guilty and testified against the crew.

The jury deliberated three days and acquitted all but one defendant, who 
the government contended was the link between Marquez-Silva and the 
crewmen. The jury deadlocked in his case and could not reach a verdict. He 
is expected to be tried again.

* * *

Flush with victory, the defense attorneys say the U.S. government had no 
business prosecuting the case.

"Congress passed this law which allows them to do this," said Roland 
Hermida, who represented the helmsman, Jurij Pavlov. "You know, we're a big 
powerful nation, and sometimes we flex our muscles in ways that other 
countries cannot understand.

"Under the guise of the international war on drugs, we sometimes trample on 
other people's rights."

Bjorn Brunvand represented the ship's Russian captain, 56-year-old Yuri 
Chakhrach. "It's ludicrous that we go . . . hundreds of miles from American 
shores and bring foreign nationals here and lock them up," he said.

"Can we do it legally? Yes. But I think it's outrageous. And I think the 
jury agreed."

Not only is it legal, countered the prosecutor, it's the United States' 
obligation as part of the civilized, international community.

"To us, it doesn't make a difference, it's a universally condemned 
activity," Ruddy said. "Our law here says it doesn't matter where the 
vessel is headed if there's a nexus to the United States."

The case was prosecuted out of Tampa, he said, because it was based on 
intelligence developed by Operation Panama Express. Whether the drugs make 
their way to Europe or to the United States is beside the point. 
Intercepting the Yalta and confiscating 33/4 tons of cocaine is a success.

"The wholesale market value of this cocaine in Europe was $130- million," 
Ruddy said. "The societal benefit of taking that amount of drugs off the 
streets is immeasurable."

* * *

The acquitted sailors are free to return home, but the U.S. government will 
not pay for their transportation.

Mark Ciaravella, who represented Lithuanian sailor Maksim Zakurdajev, said 
most of the men had enough wages with them when they were arrested to pay 
for plane tickets home. But that money was seized by U.S. marshals.

It could take weeks to get the money back. Meantime, some of the acquitted 
sailors are staying at a Tampa rental home owned by one of the attorneys.

"They're essentially stranded," Ciaravella said.

The ship's Russian captain, Chakhrach, went home to Seminole with his 
lawyer, Brunvand, and slept in his daughter's empty room.

"I slept like never before in my life," Chakhrach said through a 
translator. "It's impossible to sleep in jail."

Chakhrach hopes to fly to Russia as soon as possible to see his sons, 22 
and 28, and reunite with his wife of 30 years.

"I will kiss everyone," he said. "And prepare a good meal of salmon."

The men have 30 days to leave the country. Many are trying to finalize 
travel plans, and attorneys said the first could leave as early as 
Saturday. Many will rely on funds from their lawyers, who hope eventually 
to be reimbursed.

Chakhrach said he is not bitter.

"I think only good things about the U.S. government, because they gave us a 
chance," he said. "They gave me a very good attorney, and they paid for 
that attorney.

"But I'm sad we spent a whole year here. This could have been solved in a 
much briefer time period, and would not have cost so much for the American 
people."

- - Staff writer Brady Dennis contributed to this report.
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