The Croatian maritime community welcomed the news with relief on Saturday morning that long-distance captain Marko Bekavac, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Turkey on drug smuggling charges, was finally free and back in his homeland.
The Secretary General of the Croatian Seafarers' Union, Neven Melvan, said that this was "justice that has been long awaited."
"We made maximum efforts, cooperated with ministries, gathered a large number of people and finally managed to convince the Turkish judiciary and institutions of what we knew from the very beginning - that Captain Bekavac was innocent," said Hini Melvan, recalling the long and exhausting struggle. He added that now follows a period of recovery for the captain and his family, but also that the case opens up a broader topic of the criminalization of seafarers, which, as he said, is "a cancer-wound of the system."
The president of the Association of Sea Captains, Sanjin Dumanić, did not hide his strong emotions either. "It is a great pleasure that Captain Bekavac has finally been released. We all contributed, but if the Croatian government had not gotten involved, the question is whether we would have succeeded," he said. He recalled the panel discussion they had organized on criminal and war law and command responsibility, emphasizing that without political support, legal arguments would not be enough.
Dumanić warned of the severity of the situations seafarers can find themselves in, recalling previous cases, such as that of Captain Laptal. "Captains do everything to prevent risks, but criminals are often one step ahead. When you hear that someone can get 30 years in prison, it breaks you. Sometimes something happens that slips by - you don't know what's happening even in the apartment next to you, let alone on a 300-meter-long ship," he said.
Melvan particularly thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Croatian Ambassador to Turkey, Hrvoje Cvitanović, “who did more than one hundred percent.” He recalled that the union was present at all hearings, engaged colleagues from the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) in Turkey, contacted organizations dealing with seafarers' rights, and cooperated with the Employers' Association in an effort to speed up the court proceedings.
"Legal practice differs from country to country, it is not the same to face justice in India, Turkey, Sri Lanka or within the European Union. That is why it is important that as a society we continue to strongly protect the rights of our seafarers, wherever they are," he said.
Bekavac spent almost two years in a Turkish prison, and his release, confirmed this morning by the Minister of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan, is seen by the maritime community as an incentive for further work on strengthening the institutional protection of Croatian seafarers around the world. They also expect concrete legislative mechanisms to prevent similar situations from recurring.
The Split captain was arrested in October 2023 in Turkey and charged with smuggling 137 kilograms of cocaine, after the drugs were found on his ship Phoenician M in the port of Eregli. In September last year, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, which shocked his family and Croatian sailors.
Bekavč's lawyer, Jasna Kotarac Jabuka, confirmed that the captain arrived in Split this morning and added that he is currently staying with his family on Ciovo.
Photo: HINA/Lana Slivar Dominić
