The Indian Embassy in Korea welcomed the Daejeon District Court's decision to let free two Indian sailors who were sentenced to jail terms in connection with the Taean offshore oil spillage that occurred December 2007.

Captain Jasprit Chawla and his chief officer Syam Chetan's oil tanker, ``Heobei Spirit,'' was rammed while at anchor by a Samsung Heavy Industries crane barge. The crash caused the oil tanker to spill more than 100,000 tons of crude oil into the offshore waters, the worst maritime incident ever in Korea.

The two were brought to court with two charges _ criminal negligence and creating damage to the environment _ but found initially innocent by the lower court of Daejeon. Yet, Samsung Heavy Industries appealed to a higher court, which overturned the lower court's verdict.

For the criminal negligence charge, Captain Chawla and chief officer Chetan were sentenced last December to 18 months and eight months, respectively.

They appealed their jail sentences to the Supreme Court and were found not guilty. With regards to the charge of damaging the environment, they were fined _ 20 million won for Chawla and 10 million won for Chetan _ which has been paid.

The embassy wrote in its press release, ``The verdict proved it wasn't a criminal act done by two seafarers' negligence."

The two returned to India on Friday, June 13, two days after the verdict, receiving torrents of support and attention.

"The Hindu," a local media outlet that reported their arrivals, described the scene as this:

``While Captain Chawal flashed victory signs to the media, Chetan's younger son burst into tears, overwhelmed by the huge media presence. However, he later danced to the drumbeats of the victory rally held outside Mumbai's international airport.''

Chawla was quoted as saying, ``During the interrogation, I thought I would never be able to get back home. The interrogation was conducted in Korean, which we could not follow. Even the judge kept shouting at me; he was not fair. We also received little support from the Indian Consulate in South Korea.

The embassy denounced his comment as non-true.

The case attracted international criticism, especially from international trade unions and shipping management groups.

The international community has strongly objected to the rulings by the Korean courts, describing the guilty verdict as ``scapegoating'' and the sailors as ``passive victims.''

Ecologist Mark Shryock, who followed the case closely, once wrote to The Korea Times, saying, ``They are rapidly becoming international heroes, while at the same time Korea grows more and more unpopular. The irony is that while their case is gaining international momentum on a daily basis, in Korea, the imprisonment of Chawla and Chetan has prompted little interest.''

He added that the case has prompted the international community to boycott Korean products, especially made by Samsung, little of which was reported by the Korean media.

Kirat Vaze, first secretary and consular at the embassy, said the case was picked up by a majority of news media in India, and some protested, though he hasn't heard anything about the boycotting.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr