Friday, October 01, 2010
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The European Union anti-piracy force has welcomed the third judgment, which was delivered on Wednesday in a Kenyan prosecution in connection with the interdiction of a pirate group by the naval warship.The conviction involved eleven Somali men accused of acts of piracy. Mombasa Senior Resident Magistrate Richard Kirui delivered the verdict, sentencing the eleven Somali men accused to prison sentences of five years.
Naval Force spokesman Lt. Col Per Klingvall said on Friday the conviction relates to the attack on the Merchant Vessel Safmarine Asia on April 15.
On that day, Klingvall said, the Liberia-flagged MV Safmarine Asia came under sustained small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack from two skiffs that were operating in close company with a mother ship.
"Following a distress call from the stricken container ship, the helicopter from French warship FS Nivose quickly arrived on the scene to deter the hijacking and shadow the mother vessel until the warship arrived and intercepted the pirates," he said.
To date, EUNVFOR has transferred 92 individuals to the Kenya authorities for prosecution in the Kenyan national courts.
Earlier on this month, the Kenya authorities already sentenced 14 men to five years imprisonment each.
Prosecutions for pirate suspects are conducted by Kenyan prosecutors under Kenyan Law before a single magistrate.
The maximum sentence upon conviction for piracy offences in Kenya is life imprisonment; under Kenyan Law – and indeed as a precondition for suspected pirates being transferred by EUNval Force Somalia – capital punishment is not available.
Cases are conducted in English, however, a Somali language interpreter is present at all proceedings. In all cases the accused persons have had the benefit of legal representation.
Last year, Somali pirates carried out more than 200 attacks, including 68 successful hijackings and receiving 50 million dollars paid out in ransoms, according to unofficial figures - making it the most active year yet.
The Seychelles which sentenced eleven Somali pirates to 10 years in prison in July is the only coastal nation other than Kenya to have signed agreements with the European Union relating to the prosecution of piracy suspects.
Seychelles has warned that it has little space to accommodate new convicts, and last week passed a new law to make it easier to transfer detainees back to Somalia.
Source: Xinhua