An agreement with Kenya to judge the Pirates

(B2) An agreement with Kenya, in the form of an exchange of letters, is in the process of being approved by the Council of the European Union. It aims to be able to transfer to this country the "persons suspected of having committed acts of piracy or armed robbery in the territorial waters of Somalia or Kenya and detained by EU NAVFOR, as well as property seized and detained by EU NAVFOR".

This agreement follows the logic planned before the start of the operation (read on the project thelegal architecture of the operation). In the decision framing and launching the operation (thejoint action), the Europeans had indeed specified - if they did not want or could judge the pirates - that these could be referred to the justice of one of the riparian countries. It thus complements the troop protection agreements passed with Somalia or Djibouti.

Europe prefers Kenya to Yemen, which has so far "collected" several pirates arrested, in particular by the indian navy, because it maintains the death penalty. Position which - unless there is a firm commitment not to apply the death penalty - makes the handing over of prisoners in Yemen delicate.

Article 12 of the joint action specifies in fact "that persons who have committed or are suspected of having committed acts of piracy or armed robbery in the territorial waters of Somalia apprehended and held for the exercise of legal proceedings as well as the property used to accomplish these acts may be transferred to a third State which wishes to exercise jurisdiction over such persons and property, provided that the conditions for the transfer have been agreed with that third State in a manner consistent with applicable international law, in particular international human rights law. to ensure in particular that no one shall be subjected to the death penalty, torture or any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

(NGV)