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Rights activists call upon EPA to free Greek seamen

Human rights activists yesterday called on the government to immediately free two Greek seamen who have been detained for six months by the EPA (環保署) to support the government's demand for compensation from their employer for polluting Taiwan's coastal waters.

The two were members of the crew of the Greek cargo vessel, M/V Amorgos, which ran aground off southern Taiwan in January and spilled 1,150 tonnes of oil into the sea.

Evangelos Lazaridis and Vas-ileios Sardis, who were respectively the master and chief engineer of the ship, have since been barred from leaving Taiwan by the EPA.

The Ocean Pollution Control Act (海污法) authorizes the use of restraining orders, such as the one which prevents the two from leaving Taiwan, as a mechanism to ensure that, in cases of this sort, the shipping company pays compensation.

The act says that a port administration may bar a foreign ship's goods or staff from leaving the country before compensation for any violation of the act has been paid, or while there is concern that the shipping company may fail to fulfill its liability. The Hualien Harbor administration in this case invoked the act at the EPA's request.

The EPA is still negotiating the amount of compensation with the company.

Arguing that the crews should be freed, however, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (台權會) yesterday issued a statement, harshly criticizing the restraining order for "turning into an international joke Taiwan's claim that human rights are a national priority."

The association emphasized that the dispute should be settled by the government and the Greek shipping company and its insurance company rather than by "holding the crewmen, who carry no weight in the compensation dispute, as hostages."

Brian Kennedy, a US attorney based in Taiwan, agreed. "The taking of hostages for ransom by an individual or a terrorist group is a crime ... It is precisely what the Taiwanese government is doing in this case."

"The case is not about justice but money," said Kennedy,

"The detained crewmen have been `jailed' in a country whose language they do not speak and are suffering because of their separation from their loved ones, which will not come to an end until the company pays," said a Taiwanese friend of the crewmen who requested anonymity. "They are on the verge of breakdowns."

The two seamen are living in Kaohsiung and are allowed freedom of movement within Taiwan.

"They are deprived of the right to work," said the association.

While the EPA argues that its use of the restraining order is legitimate under the law, there is no unanimity on that point in legal circles.

Kenneth Chiu (邱晃泉), an attorney and member of the president's human rights advisory group, argued that the Ocean Pollution Control Act contravenes the ROC Constitution's stipulation that "any restraints on personal freedom should be decided by the courts."

"Administrative authorities are not an unbiased third party and always make decisions to facilitate the exercise of their power," Chiu said.

He added that the act does not stipulate a time limit for the restraining order.

"Punishment without a specific sentence is something that absolutely needs to be avoided out of consideration for human rights," he said.
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