ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland – One of three Russian sailors held in the fatal sinking of a U.S. fishing boat has dismissed his lawyer to protest the length of an extradition hearing.

“By doing this, it is my hope that I will be able to attract more public attention to my case and my plight,” said Mikhail Gerasimenko, a crew member of the MV Virgo. The tanker has been accused of being involved in a 2001 collision off the Massachusetts coast that killed three New England fishermen.

Speaking through a Russian interpreter on Monday, Gerasimenko told a court his decision was not a reflection of the way St. John’s lawyer Bill Collins had been handling the case.

He said he wants to co-operate with the court, but “after 15 months of being apart from family, country and everything I have known, I am exhausted.”

Gerasimenko, Dmitry Bogdanov and Virgo captain Vladimir Ivanoff have been detained in Newfoundland since August 2001, when the Cypriot-flagged tanker arrived at the Come By Chance, Newfoundland, oil refinery.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the Virgo didn’t stop after it rammed and sank the trawler Starbound on Aug. 5, 2001. The ship’s owners have said the crew was unaware of a collision.

The Virgo crew members are being held in St. John’s while lawyers argue over evidence seized from the Virgo by U.S. officials.

Their lawyers are trying to prevent them from being extradited to the United States where they face manslaughter and negligence charges.

Mark Doughty of Yarmouth, Maine; James Sanfilippo of Thomaston, Maine, and Thomas Frontiero of Gloucester, Mass., were killed when the Starbound sank. The boat’s captain, Joseph Marcantonio of Gloucester, Mass., escaped in a lifeboat.

Gerasimenko asked Newfoundland Supreme Court Justice Keith Mercer to allow him to return home to await a final decision. The judge did not immediately accept Collins’ resignation.