Pirates handed over to Seychelles

(BRUSSELS2) The five suspects arrested by the TCD Siroco on January 18 in the Gulf of Aden were handed over to the Seychelles for trial (read: Arrest of 5 pirates in the Gulf of Aden).

An officer of the Seychelles judicial police thus " on board" of the TCD which also serves as flagship for the EUNAVFOR Atalanta operation "to carry out the administrative formalities "we tell the General Staff of the French armies and recover" the "evidence package", consisting of exhibits, testimonies and reports collected by the French soldiers. He was accompanied by a legal expert (LEGAD) from the Atalanta General Staff. " At the foot of the gangway, the Atalanta operation liaison officer present in the Seychelles and Seychellois judicial police officers took over from the Siroco sailors for the transfer of the alleged pirates to their local detention unit..

Comments : this is not the first time that suspects have been handed over to the Seychelles authorities. But this is the first time that the archipelago has agreed to take charge of pirates who have committed their crimes so far from the area of ​​the archipelago. The event took place near the coast of Oman rather than in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. This testifies to the desire of the government of Port-Victoria to be the instance of jurisdiction for pirates at the regional level. Jurisdiction that no State in the region disputes (in particular Kenya, which has given up taking charge of the suspects handed over by the international forces). This also attests that the two-step system, developed at international level and supported (financially and operationally) by Europeans, works. That is to say: 1° Surrender of the pirates and judgment in the Seychelles, with provisional detention for the duration of the final judgment. 2° Transfer to a prison brought up to international standards in Somalia (Somaliland or Puntland, for the moment) to serve the rest of the sentence.