Poavosa-Ace

A court in the city of Annaba on Apr 5, 2016, found the master of the "Poavosa Ace" guilty in cutting a fiber optic cable linking Annaba to Marseille in Oct 2015, and sentenced him to six months in prison, plus 406 Euros fine. He was found guilty in violation of navigational regulations and destruction of property of strategic importance.

Captain Du Chang Long. the master of the "Poavosa Ace" which was identified by the inquest as responsible for cutting the submarine cable SMWE4 off Sidi Salem was linking Annaba and Marseilles, on Oct 22, 2015, will be heard on Dec 17 at the court in Annaba. Algeria Telecom pointed out that the hearing followed a petition submitted on Nov 26 Nov requesting confirmation of the seizure of the "Poavosa Ace" due to lost profits, repair costs and damage suffered by Algeria Telecom for the duration of the cut cable that deprived the company 80% of its international bandwidth capacity, which caused serious disturbances on the national broadband network for six days. An arrest request was posed by Algeria Telecom on Nov 16. Pending the final ruling by the court of Annaba, the captain remains under judicial supervision with a prohibition to leave the country.