Seychellois nationals to appeal death sentence for drug trafficking |06 June 2013

A communiqué from the Seychelles Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that due to the nature of the Egyptian legal system, the courts undertook a formal ruling to approve the original sentence before the official appeals process starts.

This period started on June 3 and the three Seychellois nationals – Ronny Norman Jean (41 years old), Yvon John Vinda (38) and Dean Dominic Loze (27) – now have a period of 60 days to file the appeal.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has been offering consular help to the nationals, who have now retained three separate legal representatives to take forward their appeal.

In addition, the ministry, with the help of the Seychelles consul general designate to Egypt, Dr Mahmoud Moussa, has eased communication between the nationals and their families who were given the opportunity to exchange letters and personal effects.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed that it is continuing to pursue diplomatic avenues to appeal to the government of Egypt to commute the sentences of the three men to life imprisonment.

The Seychellois convicted were part of a crew onboard a boat owned by British national Charles Raymond Ferndale that was detained and apprehended on April 22, 2011 after it, according to reports, entered Egyptian waters illegally.  Acting on information that the ship was bringing in an amount of illicit drugs from Pakistan, the ship was monitored and stopped.