The Moscow City Court on Friday sentenced Latvian businessman Sergei Demchenko to three years in a high-security prison for organizing a pirate attack on the Arctic Sea vessel in 2009.
The Arctic Sea went missing in the Atlantic on July 24 while carrying a $2 million shipment of timber from Finland to Algeria and was intercepted by the Russian Navy off West Africa on August 17, when eight alleged hijackers were arrested.
Demchenko is the third defendant in the case, who fully admitted his guilt. Earlier Dmitry Savins, the leader of the attack, and Andrei Lunev, one of the participants, also pleaded guilty to the hijacking and were sentenced to seven and five years respectively.
Investigators say Demchenko did not personally take part in the hijacking of the cargo vessel, however, he trained the pirates and later attempted to arrange the sale of the Arctic Sea.
Six more defendants in the case are still waiting for the trial, which is due to begin this month in Russia's northern city of Arkhangelsk.
The ship's disappearance, which triggered a major international search effort, raised suspicions about it carrying a "secret cargo" of drugs or weapons. Russian authorities have denied the rumors, saying the vessel was hijacked by criminals who demanded a ransom.
Russia's special investigations committee announced last year that all 14 crewmembers of the Arctic Sea had been formally recognized as victims of a pirate attack.
MOSCOW, December 3 (RIA Novosti)
