This Thursday (October 12) marks four years since a Chester man and five other Brits were arrested in India while working aboard an anti-piracy ship protecting shipping from Somalian pirates.
Ray Tindall, 42, from Newton, and colleagues were aboard MV Seaman Guard Ohio when it was impounded by the Indian authorities on October 12, 2013, for allegedly straying into their territorial waters.
Accused of illegally possessing weapons, the men were later jailed for five years having protested their innocence from the start.
They are imprisoned in Puzhal prison in Chennai and have become known as the ‘Chennai Six’.
This Thursday relatives of the men will hand in a petition to 10 Downing Street signed by 408,000 people demanding the Government do more to secure their release. A lobby of MPs is also being held in Portcullis House, London.
At one stage all charges were quashed and it looked like Ray Tindall would be reunited with his loved ones including his young daughter who lives in Chester with his ex-wife.
But the ‘Chennai Six’ have faced set back after set back. Now it is being reported by the Cumbrian-based News & Star the result of a long-awaited appeal will not be forthcoming because the judge has decided it must be heard again.
Mark Field, the UK’s minister for Asia, visited the ‘Chennai Six’ in prison on October 4.
He said in a statement: “These men have been separated from their families for four years and have had an incredibly difficult experience. They are adamant that they are innocent of the crime they are in prison for.
“I wanted to meet with them personally to give them my assurance that we are still doing everything we can to help them.
“It is not for us to tell India’s independent justice system what to do, we cannot and should not, but we can make clear the importance we place on this case.
“That is why the Prime Minister raised it with Indian Prime Minister Modi during the G20 summit earlier this year and the Foreign Secretary raised it with his Indian counterpart in July.
“I have raised it again here with senior figures in Tamil Nadu state and with the Indian Government.
“Foreign Office consular staff are in regular contact with the men and their families and will continue to work hard on their behalf.”
It was in January 2016 that all 35 sailors and guards aboard MV Seaman Guard Ohio received five-year sentences and were ordered to pay 3,000 rupees (£30).
The six Brits involved are Ray Tindall, from Chester, Billy Irving, from Connel, Argyll and Bute, Nick Dunn, from Ashington, Northumberland, Paul Towers, from Pocklington, John Armstrong, from Wigton, Cumbria, and Nicholas Simpson, from Catterick, North Yorkshire.
