No release for the murderers of the SY Quest sailors

(B2) A U.S. federal judge on Friday (30 November) in Norfolk denied murder charges against three Somali pirates accused of pirating a yacht, the SYQuest, and killed, in 2011, four Americans (Jean and Scott Adam, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay) 40 miles off the Somali coast. The defense case focused on jurisdiction and the law of the sea. The lawyers for the defendants argued that the Somalis, having been arrested within 200 miles of Somalia, should be tried in Somalia. Judge Rebecca Beach Smith rejected this argument, finding that only the 12-mile limit sets the boundary between national and "international law". Beyond this limit, the American authorities therefore have the capacity to bring pirates to justice (as authorized by international law which establishes universal jurisdiction in this respect). NB: Several of the pirates have already been sentenced to life imprisonment.