The release of pirate suspects is debated in the Netherlands
The release by the Dutch navy of nine Somali pirates,
that she had taken prisoner on Saturday, caused a little ink to flow in the Netherlands. Defense Ministers, FROM
Middelkoop, and Justice, Hirsch Ballin, should come and explain themselves to the
Second Chamber, Tuesday at the request of several Dutch political parties.
Official position. The two ministers concerned sent a letter to the Chamber of Deputies in which they justified this position: "Except in cases where a
Dutch interest is clearly at stake, prosecution and detention in the Netherlands does not seem the most obvious solution". As to
Defense Ministry spokesman, he explained that "the decision had been taken by the NATO Operation Commander and that the
Dutch justice had approved it".
Arrest - release. Saturday afternoon, the ship "Hr. Ms. De Zeven Provinciën" on patrol on behalf of NATO took in
hunting a team of pirates aboard a skiff, after the (thwarted) attack on the oil tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, of a Greek shipowner, the "Handytankers Magic". The two teams of
Navy commandos aboard RHIBs (Zodiac Rigid Hull Boats) discovered a dhow with about 25 people on board. Nine of them arrested as suspected pirates, Navy says
Dutch (and not 7 as advertised elsewhere). The others were Yemeni fishermen (about 16) taken hostage whose
boat had been hijacked last Thursday. Arms - 7
AK-47 machine guns and a rocket launcher - were seized and destroyed (NB: which also has the consequence
to destroy incriminating evidence).
Comment. This decision confirms my previous analysis illustrating that the successive NATO operations have a big flaw (on the EU operation):
not having legal coverage and, therefore, not being able to transfer prisoners to a third country. In this type of (international police) operation, the jurisdictional component is
as important as the military aspect.