Captain Bekavac’s family: ‘We were in prison with him, it’s good. No one touches him and harassed ‘

We were all Hard and emotionally, but we didn’t want to show him that we don’t even burden him. He wished his home, it’s been there for 19 months, but he holds well and looks good as we can say. Apart from me, his wife, as well as a son, went to visit. We spent two hours with him. It was last Friday, this is the first time we saw each other.

Jozo Bekavac, the brother of Split captain Marko Bekavac (62), told us this, who was arrested in October 2023 and later sentenced to 30 years after being found on a boat that was found about half a cocaine, first in Colombia, and then IU Turkey, where it was found about 160 pounds. It is a shipping cargo ship « Phoenician-M », which Bekavac took the first time.

He is more times asked for additional ship insurance, but his requirements were not approved. Specifically, in Barranquilli, Colombia, where he was supposed to take over the burden, the agent warned him that there was a lot of drug smuggling in that port. Because of this, the Bekavac asked for not only additional insurance from the company, but also to place the cameras. He preserved evidence on USB. The drug was inserted during those few days that coal was boarded and found near the engine room at five meters deep in Brod. Those half of Tona was found in Colombia, while the rest was discovered on a flood to Turkey.

“As for His case, the process is not over yet, but he is optimistic because he knows he is not guilty. It is a strictly guarded prison, the procedure to go to visit is very complicated. Before we were able to see it, we spent seven days in Turkey, resolving the necessary papers and permits, in the court and in the immigration office. First, they told us that it would all last for three weeks, but our ambassador to Ankara, Mr. Hrvoje Cvitanović, really came out to us to meet us, helped us solve it all quickly and we are really grateful to him. He welcomed us there, and he gave us a driver to take us to prison. It’s about 40 kilometers from Ankara. It is a huge complex, a strictly guarded prison with innumerable blocks, enclosed by walls, wires, with guard towers and armed guards. The search is so detailed that you can’t even enter the toothpick. They took his wife to a special room where she was examined by women, prison guardians. As for these entry permits, now that we have received them, it should be easier at the next visit – Jozo Bekavac tells us.

We also ask him how his brother feels there, what are the conditions in prison …

“They’re around him Mostly Iranians, no one knows English and hard to communicate, but no one touches him, no one harasses him. It’s a ‘more open’ block that can move, it can go to the canteen. Buy something, so he can save yourself. It’s neat, but they have to pay everything. Sometimes they disappear the water, so they appear. It endures somehow. He told us that there was a Italian in the block who had cancer in the terminal phase and that it was very difficult to listen to his cry. Eventually, this man died – Jozo Bekavac tells us.

He adds that during the visit they were in a regular room with a classic six -seat table. After two o’clock they called him.

– When we parted with him, we had to get on the bus that drove us to the exit of the complex. You take your things there. Specifically, when you arrive, you have to buy a wardrobe locot in which you store everything you have. What can I say … We hope for the best – Bekavac tells us.

Recall, Marko Bekavac is a captain of a flawless career that has been sailing for the world seas for 40 years. The ship he commanded was owned by the Turkish company, but sails under the Panama flag. It is a ship transporting Sipka cargo, 180 meters long. During the trial, Bekavac kept repeating that he was not guilty. He was convicted, as we have already written, according to command responsibility, although in that case the intention should be proven, which is not the case here.