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A legal analysis by UofG experts into the seizure of an oil tanker and the lengthy detention of its crew in Scottish waters has raised further questions for the UK and Scottish Governments and MSPs.

The Marinera, known previously as Bella-1, was intercepted by the U.S Coast Guard and with assistance from UK armed forces between Scotland and Iceland in January 2026.

It was then taken to the Moray Firth where its crew were held without charge for close to three weeks, before two of them were removed to the United States.

'A Legal Black Hole in UK Waters? The Case of the MV Bella 1' by Professors Charlie Peevers and Tom Mullen gives a deeper insight into the issues involved, reported on in The Herald.

Amongst other questions, they consider whether the seizure of the vessel was legal in the first place, why no attempt was made to exercise legal jurisdiction, whether the crews were denied their rights under both Scots and international law; and why American forces were permitted to remove two men without an extradition order, in defiance of well-established domestic legal process.

For close to three weeks 28 people were held on the ship, without charge and without the opportunity to access consular assistance, before all but two were released on January 26.

Professors Peevers and Mullen note that the UK Government "has not set out in detail its position on the legality of the seizure in international law" but appeared to be arguing it was a stateless vessel at the time.

They describe the position of both governments as "eminently contestable".

Professors Mullen and Peevers note that warships are immune from the jurisdiction of other states even if they are in that state's territorial waters, and there is "substantial immunity" for foreign government ships which are operated for non-commercial purposes.

However, neither of those applied to the Marinera.

The academics conclude that the UK was entitled to exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over the tanker, even if it could not do so in relation to the US warship (USCGC Munro).

They note: "If there are good legal arguments to support the view that the UK authorities lacked jurisdiction to take action affecting the Bella 1, they have not yet been publicly articulated by either the UK or Scottish Governments."

While domestic jurisdiction would have been limited had any of the crew been transferred to a U.S warship, multiple accounts from those on board assert that they were held on the Marinera and slept on the galley floor. They therefore had the right to invoke all legal rights and remedies under Scots law.

The crew also had rights under international law, including the right to consular assistance, the rights not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and the right to a trial within a reasonable time.

Under article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Constitutional Rights, the UK is obliged to offer consular access to foreign nationals, even if they have been brought into its territory by a third state.

Both the Ukrainian and Russian consuls said they had not been given access to their compatriots on the ship, while a Court of Session filing on behalf of captain Atvandil Kalandadze said the Georgian had not been offered consular assistance.

The UK also has obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

As the professors note: "The only bases on which either Government could have been satisfied that the rights of the crew had been respected would be that they had received assurances from the US authorities to that effect or that the members of the crew had unequivocally waived their rights. There has been no indication that any such assurances were given; only their being in good health was mentioned in the First Minister’s statement."

While the U.S did begin the process of seeking extradition by making a request for mutual legal assistance, it is unlikely it would have been granted by the courts.

A requirement of the extradition act is that the crime for which extradition is being sought is also a crime under UK law - given the ship was under domestic U.S sanctions, any alleged breach would not meet that requirement because it wouldn't be an offence in UK law.

The crew, aside from captain Kalandadze and Mr Raskovskyy, were disembarked from the Marinera on January 26 and supported in their "onward journey to a location of their choice" after being processed by Border Force in Inverness.

It remains unclear who was responsible for the process of taking them from the vessel - if it were Scottish or British authorities, further questions would be raised about why they assisted with disembarking having never sought to protect their rights beforehand.

The legal analysis concludes: "It is dispiriting to see a UK Government, which has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to the international rules-based order, fail to address obvious questions raised by U.S unilateral action. It is equally distressing to observe the apparent lack of interest of both the UK and Scottish Governments in enforcing domestic laws that guarantee individual rights and that are the foundation of constitutional order.

"Add to this the supine response of elected representatives and this amounts to a fundamental failure of democratic institutions of accountability who seem content to have allowed the creation of a legal ‘black hole’ in the UK, despite the legacy of the law-free zones attempted during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their failures to uphold the law in the case of the Bella 1 may come back to haunt them."

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First published: 25 March 2026