Two Swedish filmmakers named Henrik Evertsson and Linus Andersson have been found guilty of violating the sanctity of the grave site of MS Estonia which sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 as 852 lost their lives.
The Gothenburg district court levied fines on the two Swedes proportional to their income. Evertsson, the production manager has been told to pay a fine of $2,000 or 22,400 Swedish crowns while Andresdon who controlled the diving equipment will have to pay $1,800 or 18,800 Swedish crowns.
In 2019, the filmmakers, part of a Discovery Networks documentary lowered a remote-operated submersible into the sea where MS Estonia lay submerged. The duo was piecing a documentary on the sinking of the ship and investigating if the initial cause given out to the public was indeed the truth or not.
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However, as it turns out, the film crew managed to find a massive hole in the hull of the ship, raising serious doubts over the previous investigations. In 1997, the official investigation concluded that the bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.
The judge, however, hearing the case stated that the shipwreck was a grave site for a large number of people and protecting its sanctity was more important.
“There is a strong public interest in maintaining the grave peace around MS Estonia, which is the burial ground for a large number of people. Protecting the sanctity of the dead is more important than protecting freedom of expression and information,” said judge Goran Lundahl.
It is pertinent to note that MS Estonia, carrying 803 passengers and 186 crew was en route to Stockholm from Tallinn when it sunk.
A year later in 1995, Sweden, Estonia, and Finland agreed to designate the spot where the ferry lay as a grave site after deciding not to salvage the wreck. Thus, it became illegal to disturb the site.
The filmmakers used a German-flagged ship in international waters to reach the spot with their instruments as Germany had not signed the accord.
Consequently, the two Swedes initially were not held accountable. However, later it was argued that ‘Estonia Law’ applied to the duo as they were Swedish.
While the filmmakers have been fined, their findings, revealed in the documentary have forced Sweden and Estonia to open a fresh investigation into the case.
(With inputs from agencies)
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