Five pirates arrested by Siroco finally freed. 8 others kept in detention
(B2) The Seychelles High Court decided on Friday (9 December) on two different Somali pirate cases. This is the last file still in progress in terms of justice in the Seychelles. Seychellois judges decided to release five pirates, arrested in the Gulf of Aden in early 2014. They, however, decided to uphold the conviction of eight other people arrested in November 2015.
Release of the five men arrested by Siroco
The five men had attacked, in January 2014, a dhow - the Shane Hind — in the Arabian Sea and holding the Indian crew hostage. They then used the dhow as a mother ship to attack a tanker Nave Atropos flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. The alert given, a Japanese patrol plane flew over the area to circumscribe the pirates. At sea, it is the ship of the French navy, the TCD Siroco, which then housed the floating HQ of the European operation Atalanta, which had been on the assault to free the hostages and capture the pirates. They were then transferred to Seychelles on January 30, 2014 and sentenced in June 2016 to 12 years in prison by the Court of Seychelles. Judge Anthony Fernando ruled that there was not enough evidence to keep the five people in jail. " We quash the convictions and demand their immediate repatriation to Somalia “he said in his judgment according to the agency Seychelles News, which announces the information.
NB: Even if they were released today, the apprentice pirates will have spent nearly three years in prison. Which, on the scale of the convictions pronounced by the various courts – and taking into account the remissions of sentences – is in “the average”. This release also comes as maritime piracy from Somalia has largely decreased and no longer represents the same risk as several years ago.
Retention in prison of the eight Somalis arrested by the Esbern Snare
In the second appeal brought by convicted Somalis accused of piracy, the Court of Appeal upheld 14-year sentences against eight pirates arrested in November 2013 and convicted in June 2015. They were accused of attacking two ships: THE MV Zhongji No. 1, a chemical tanker flying the flag of Hong Kong, and the MV Torm Kansas, a Danish ship, aboard a skiff and a whaler, requisitioned for the occasion and serving as a mother ship. Their attack was stopped by the private guards of the Torm Kansas on November 6, 2013. And the nine pirates were arrested by the Danish navy ship, HDMS Esbern Snare, and transferred to the Seychelles. One of the pirates considered a minor had been released and repatriated to Somalia.
(NGV)
Go further, read also:
On the Shane Hind case
- The 5 pirates arrested by Siroco on trial in Port-Victoria
- Piracy, the panoply of a mafia business (Bléjean)
- Arrest of the 5 pirates in the Gulf of Aden (Update)
On the Torm Kansas case:
