11/07/09: The New York Times reports that Spain said Friday that it would not free two captured pirates as demanded by fellow brigands who are holding a Spanish trawler and 33 crew members off the coast of Somalia. Deputy Defense Minister Constantino Méndez said the two Somali men were captured, and taken to Madrid, in connection with the hijacking of the Spanish-registered tuna boat Alakrana on Oct. 2 in the Indian Ocean.
10/14/09: The New York Times reports that two Somali men were arraigned on kidnapping charges in a Spanish court on Tuesday in a case that underscores the legal ambiguity of trying people suspected of piracy in international waters. The case involves the still-unresolved capture of a tuna fishing ship in the Indian Ocean. The ship, the Alakrana, was taken 12 days ago off Somalia with a crew of 36, including 16 Spaniards. Spanish naval forces captured the defendants two days later as they tried to sail away from the trawler in a skiff.
07/23/09: The BBC reports that twelve suspected Somali pirates have been charged with hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker earlier this year, according to Yemeni authorities. The suspects were seized when Yemeni forces retook control of the vessel, which had been attacked while sailing from the port of Mukalla to Aden.
06/16/09: Jurist reports that Kenyan prosecutors have charged 17 Somalis with piracy. The men, arrested by US Naval forces in the Gulf of Aden in May, were turned over to the Kenyan authorities last Wednesday and charged Thursday. Also last week, the Swedish Navy turned over seven suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities. Kenya now holds more than 100 alleged pirates from Somalia.
06/01/09: Jurist reports that officials from the G8 countries agreed to work toward establishing a system for trying pirates captured in African waters. If the pirates are tried in Europe, they may be able to bring successful asylum claims, and in Africa, poor governance and corruption place great obstacles in trying the pirates. The proposal will be presented at the upcoming G8 summit in July.
05/14/09: Reuters reports that Russian courts may prosecute Somali pirates for attacks on Russian ships. "The transfer of such individuals into the hands of the Somalis is pointless," Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev said, adding that under international maritime law, any country which has captured pirates can launch its own prosecution. On May 4, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested the creation of a special international court to prosecute pirates operating off East Africa. Last month Russia captured a pirate vessel with 29 people on board after it tried to seize a Liberian-flagged ship with a Russian crew.
05/08/09: Australia.to features a piece by Daniele Archibugi in which she argues that the best solution for where to try pirates who have been captured is to "give jurisdiction to a state whose judiciary system guarantees that the defendants will not be abused, in other words, not Kenya."
04/24/09: The New York Times reports that Kenya is emerging as the venue of choice for piracy cases and an important piece of the worldwide crackdown on piracy. The spate of recent hijackings off Somalia’s coast has stiffened international resolve. Just a few months ago, foreign warships would catch suspected pirates cruising around in speedy skiffs with guns and ladders and then dump them back on the Somali beach because of sticky legal questions.
04/15/09: Der Spiegel reports that lawyers for two pirates detained by the German government during a successful anti-pirate mission off the coast of Somalia in early March and subsequently turned over to Kenyan authorities have sued the German government, on the theory that the German government should foot the bill for the pirates' defense and ensure they receive a fair trial. HT to Opino Juris.
04/14/09: The Independent reports that lawyers for more than two dozen Somali pirates jailed in Mombasa, Kenya, are arguing that Kenya has no right to try their clients, which raises the question of which jurisdiction does.
04/01/09: Der Spiegel reports that the trial of nine suspected Somali pirates who were seized by the German navy begins Wednesday in Kenya. The case could prove to be a litmus test for the EU mission to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
03/03/09: Media-Newswire reports that pirates increasingly are being captured — sometimes caught in the act, other times spotted with incriminating evidence. Pirates can be prosecuted if they are seen boarding or if they are sailing with weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades. Experts say that the legal process can be daunting because so many parties may be involved in any one case.
01/28/09 Voice of America News reports
that the Kenyan government has begun to share details of a signed
memorandum of understanding between the US and Kenyan governments for
Kenya to detain and prosecute pirates the US captures on the open seas.
01/27/09: In the backgrounder titled "Combating Maritime Piracy," author and Council on Foreign Relations news editor Stephanie Hanson examines the many legal issues surrounding maritime piracy enforcement.
01/23/09: The New York Times reports that captured Somali pirates could soon face trials and serve jail sentences outside their homeland under a pact being negotiated between American officials and regional allies, the head of a new U.S. anti-piracy task force said Friday. Rear Adm. Terence McKnight told The Associated Press an accord could be reached within weeks to clear the way for piracy trials and imprisonment in countries ''in the region.'' He declined, however, to name the nations possibly willing to hold the trials.
12/28/08: The World Politics Review reports that Kenya won a quiet but significant victory over Somali pirates that have waged a devastating campaign against its maritime economy when a judge at the Mombasa federal court formally charged eight Somali pirates with felonies under Kenyan law on Dec. 11. The eight men were captured by the British Royal Navy in November while trying to hijack a Danish merchant ship near the Yemeni coast.
12/11/08: CNN reports that trial of eight Somali men accused of piracy in the attempted hijacking of a Danish freighter has been put off until January after a preliminary session. Senior State Counselor Vincent Monda said prosecutors need to bring in witnesses from the British navy, Yemeni victims and seamen from the Danish cargo ship MV Powerful, which the suspects are charged with trying to commandeer. He said the need to line up international witnesses and the complexity of the case required more time for preparation.
12/10/08: The AFP reports that an international conference on Somali piracy is expected to propose that the region's coastal nations, like Kenya and Tanzania, arrest and prosecute the pirates. The two-day conference is sponsored by the UN and the Kenyan government, and the proposal is outlined in a document drafted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
12/10/08: The Wall Street Journal reports that the recent increase in piracy has kept maritime lawyers busy. Over the past three months, the rise in piracy has kept about a half-dozen lawyers at Holman Fenwick working nearly full-time for clients with potentially dozens of lives and tens of millions of dollars at stake in hijackings.
12/05/08: The New York Times features an op-ed by Douglas Burgess, Jr. in which he argues that piracy, like the brand currently being seen off the coast of Somalia, is terrorism under international law. This conception of the problem, he writes, should help countries whose navies are patrolling the area to better grasp the legal framework they have at their disposal to confront the pirates. Opinio Juris, however, disagrees that piracy is terrorism.
11/20/08: Clif Burns at Export Law Blog discusses the international legal framework for confronting piracy through universal jurisdiction.
Thread: Prosecution of piracy (military response in separate thread)
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