Captain of Hungarian cruise ship disaster 'Killed 25 Koreans' retrial in first trial

An appeals court ruled that the first trial of the ship captain should be re-opened after he was put on trial in the 2019 sinking of a cruise ship that killed 25 South Korean tourists in Budapest, Hungary.

The Budapest Court of Appeals ruled on 15 September local time against Captain Yuri Kaplinski, who was accused of breaching the Water Traffic Act for negligence, to cancel his September 2023 sentence of five-and-a-half years in prison and to start a new trial.The court's order to supervise Captain Kaplinski, who is under house arrest

, with a location tracking device remained in place.

"A procedural violation occurred in the first trial, forcing the ruling to be invalidated," the appeals court said in a press release. "Anyone who is not expected to be able to judge the case fairly cannot act as a judge to hear the case."

Although the first trial judge did not specifically provide a reason for not being able to conduct a fair hearing, he added that a lack of fairness creates bias and affects the way evidence is evaluated.

It seems that the judge judged that the first trial proceeded even though the fairness of the trial could not be guaranteed because it was related to the person involved in the case.

The large cruise ship Viking Sigyn collided with the cruise ship Hubbleani near the Murgit Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on May 29, 2019, killing 25 Koreans and missing one.

Captain Kaplinski, who was aboard the Viking Sigyn at the time, was accused of not communicating properly by radio even though he tried to overtake the Hubbleani, and of not rescuing it in time when the Hubbleani sank after the crash.