VLADIVOSTOK. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The trial of 14 North Korean citizens, who were charged with attacking Russian border guards in the Sea of Japan in 2019, resumed in the Primorye Territorial Court on Monday after a two-month break, court press secretary Yelena Oleneva told Interfax.
"A recess announced in the middle of August due to the judge's vacation resumed at 7 a.m. Moscow time. The defendants will be questioned at today's hearing, and the witnesses have been questioned earlier," Oleneva said.
The next hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday.
The court has also questioned the victims.
The Primorye Territorial Court started hearing the criminal case in September 2020, all 14 defendants have been kept in custody.
Officers of the border department of the Russian Federal Security Service's branch in the Primorye Territory spotted a North Korean fishing vessel poaching squid on September 17, 2019. The North Korean fishermen were harvesting squid in the Kita-Yamato Bank area in the Russian exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan. Border guards detained the fishing vessel.
As the vessel was being examined, 17 North Korean fishermen used improvised weapons to attack the Russian inspection team. One assailant seized a service-issue weapon and fired at a border guard.
Six North Korean fishermen were charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, and eight were charged with violence endangering life and health of a person in authority.
Criminal cases of another three North Korean citizens were directed to the Nakhodka City Court. Two of them were sentenced to four years of imprisonment, and the third was jailed for seven years for attacking Russian border guards.