11 Somali Pirates Get 'Historical' Sentences in Seychelles

Suspected Somali pirates attend a hearing at the state security court in Aden city, south Yemen, on 20 April 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Republic of Seychelles has sentenced 11 Somali pirates to 10 years each for piracy activities in the Indian Ocean in the first ever conviction of its kind.

The Seychelles Supreme Court convicted 8 of the accused for the offense of committing an act of piracy and 3 others for aiding and abetting an act of piracy, announced the government of the Seychelles.

The offenses were committed in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Seychelles EEZ on December 5-6, 2009, whereas Topaz, a Seychelles Coast Guard patrol ship, was attacked with automatic weapons by the pirates in two different skiffs.

The aiders and abettors were found in a mother skiff not very far from the attack. Evidence has revealed that the mother skiff had provided ammunitions and firearms to the two attack skiffs before they effected the attack.

“Their conviction is a historical milestone as it is the first time that a piracy trial is successfully prosecuted in the Seychelles. Moreover these convicts will assist in the building of confidence of the countries and institutions supporting Seychelles in effort in the region and in extenso it will serve as a deterrent from prospective Somali pirates who would otherwise have thought that the would have come into  Seychelles waters with impunity,” says the government of the island republic.

There are 29 other suspected and accused Somali pirates who are still awaiting trial in the Seychelles or transfer from the Republic of Seychelles to Somalia.

An interview of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) with Joel Morgan, Minister of Environment, Natural Resources and Transport of the Republic of the Seychelles, and Head of the Seychelles High Level Committee on Piracy, READ HERE

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!