TBILISI, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - A Georgian appeals court released on Tuesday the jailed captain of a Turkish tanker, and passed a more lenient sentence.
In mid-August, Georgian border guards seized the Buket tanker en route to Abkhazia, and sentenced its captain, Mehmed Dzhoshkun Ozturk, to 24 years in prison for smuggling and unauthorized economic activity in what Georgia considers to be its own waters.
The court gave Ozturk a suspended three-year sentence and imposed a $18,000 fine.
Georgia seized the Panama-flagged Buket and its cargo on August 16 when it was carrying over 2,000 of gasoline and 770 metric tons of diesel to Abkhazia.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, another former Georgian republic, as independent states last August after a brief war with Georgia.
However, Tbilisi considers Abkhazia and its waters to be Georgian territory, and as part of efforts to isolate the republic has declared any unauthorized shipments of goods to be illegal.
On August 26, the republic celebrated the first anniversary of Russia's recognition of its independence. So far the only other country to have recognized it and South Ossetia is Nicaragua.
