MOSCOW, January 29 - RAPSI. The court in Lagos, Nigeria, has postponed the hearing of the application to release 15 Russian crewmen from the cargo ship Myre Seadiver by two weeks, a representative of the ship's owner, Russia's Moran Security Group, told RIA Novosti.

"The judge has postponed the hearing by two weeks at the request of the Nigerian police. The police initially requested that the hearing be postponed by a month, but we persuaded them to a date in early February," the company's spokesman said, adding that the sailors have been kept in prison without any charges for over two months.

The Nigerian authorities detained Myre Seadiver and the 15 Russian sailors on board on October 19, 2012, on suspicion of arms smuggling. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on December 26 that, following diplomatic negotiations, it had been decided that the Russian crewmembers would be allowed to return home. But in January 2013 Agence France-Presse reported that the Russians had been moved from the naval detention ward to a police prison in Lagos.

The Russian Embassy appealed to the Nigerian authorities to release the detained Russian nationals based on the diplomatic pledge. However, their request was not considered.