MOSCOW, January 15 (RAPSI) – Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court on Tuesday extended detention for twelve Ukrainian sailors charged with illegal crossing of Russian borders until April 24, the court’s spokesperson Yekaterina Krasnova told RAPSI.

The hearing was held behind closed doors.

On November 25, Russian border guard officers had to engage a weapon to stop unwarranted maneuvers of three Ukrainian ships in Russia’s territorial waters in the area of Kerch Strait. The ships were seized while 24 crew members were arrested. Three sailors were wounded. 

Simferopol and Kerch courts ruled the sailors be detained. On November 30, all of them were transferred to Moscow.

Russia’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova said in December that the sailors’ rights were not violated. Their rights to a procedure and confinement conditions as well as rights to medical care are observed as required by international and Russian laws, Moskalkova told journalists.