A U.S. tourist who was sentenced to jail for invading a contactless tribe island has been released on bail but has been ordered to stay in India.
Mykhailo Viktorov, 24, was released under strict conditions for a month after being arrested on March 31 for contacting the Sentinelese person of Sentinel Island.
Sentinel is one of the last isolated tribes in the world, with about 200 people living on an island 700 miles from the coast of India.
Polyakov was arrested from Andaman Island, who returned after providing a can of Coke to the Sentinel people as a place to “peace festival”.
Polikov was ordered to stay in Blair, the capital of Andaman Island, on Friday until his case was ruled, and the 24-year-old faced up to five years in prison for stunts.
His bail was also approved, which was a condition for providing two guarantors, which had to include residents of Port Blair and had to meet with the officers responsible for his case twice a week.
Polikov was arrested with his passport and visa, and officials said in a statement that he would “stay in Port Blair until further hearings.”
When Polikov was active on the island, his trip came nearly seven years after the 27-year-old sentinels of American missionary John Allen Chau, when he was killed by sentinels while trying to “transform” them into Christianity.
When Polikov was questioned by police last month, police said they found Go-Pro footage of him landing illegally on Sentinel Island.
He is believed to have filmed for his YouTube channel and also exhibited footage from visiting Taliban-controlled Afghanistan earlier this year.
That’s it. The last unparalleled tribe. The last mystery. If they saw me, would they attack? Or will they accept me? According to the Telegraph, he said in the recording.
Polikov reportedly told the officer that he was a “thrill seeker” and that he shot a stunt for YouTube.
Sentinels are known for their hostility to any invaders, and Indian authorities strictly protect their way of life by banning any attempt to contact them.
The authorities say that contacting tribes also has risks of eliminating them because they have no exemptions for common diseases outside.
Investigators in India have sued anyone who helped enter the island and tried to identify anyone who might have helped Polyav.
Police said Polyakov had carefully planned the itinerary of Polyakov and accused tourists of studying ocean conditions, tides and visiting points before setting sail.
Police said he first arrived at Port Blair on March 26, then ventured to Sentinel Island on March 28, using a grey Gemini inflatable boat to sail 25 miles straight from Kurma Dera Beach to the island of Five Balloons.
He rode in restricted territory around 1 a.m. and “carry coconut and dietary coke as the product of the sentinel.” According to Andaman and Nicobar police, he arrived at the northeast coast of North Sentinel Island around 10 a.m.
“He landed briefly for about five minutes, placed the offering on the shore, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before returning to the ship,” the report said.
“Comments on his GoPro camera lens show his entry and landing on the restricted North Sentinel Island.”
“At 1 pm, he began his return journey and arrived at Kurma Dera Beach at 7 pm, where he was discovered by local fishermen.”
Police said Polikov visited the area twice last October and planned to sail to North Sentinel Island using an “inflatable kayaking” but was stopped by staff at a hotel where he was staying.
He visited again in January this year, where he visited the Balatan Islands and “illegal photography of the Jalava tribe”.
