Somali Pirates Sentenced in Dutch Court
The Court of The Hague has sentenced a Somali man to six years in prison for firing weapons on a Dutch navy team.
The court considered it proven that he - and others - shot a gun at Dutch navy personnel during the anti-piracy mission of the Hr Ms Rotterdam in October 2012 in Somali territorial waters.
The court called the actions of the man shocking for the international legal order, which is, after all efforts to promote security in the troubled waters off Somalia and to protect shipping.
Precisely during such a peace mission participating naval personnel should be protected against such violence.
The Court deemed it not proven, and for which he was acquitted, that the man was on a previously hijacked Iranian ship, which itself has been involved in the hijacking of the ship. The prosecution had demanded that both facts required imprisonment of 10 years.
The court held the suspect for - lesser - violence against Dutch navy personnel and was sentenced to imprisonment for two years. Both the prosecution and the Somali man had appealed against that decision. The man has been in the Netherlands in detention since his arrest in October 2012.
A Somali co-defendant was acquitted by the court of culpable involvement in the hijacking or violence against the Dutch navy personnel.
It remains unclear whether he had a hand in the incident. Furthermore, he has always denied any involvement in the hijacking or of the violence. This co-defendant was acquitted by the court of hijacking and shooting at the navy, but also sentenced to two years in prison for violence against the Dutch navy personnel.
That conviction was on appeal by the Court of Appeal reversed on April 2, 2015.
As reported by OCEANUSLive in October 2012, a boarding team from the amphibious transport ship, HNLMS Rotterdam, on 25 October were unexpectedly confronted with an aggressive response during a routine check on a dhow off the Somali coast.
The Rotterdam, when at 400 meters from the Somali coast decided to inspect a nearby fishing boat. When the team of marines in specialized motor boats (RHIB's) were about 100 meters away, they were fired upon from this so-called dhow, which had been hijacked it was discovered. A RHIB was hit and suffered minor damage from gunfire. The Marines were unharmed and returned fire. In addition, they received support from the Rotterdam. The dhow caught fire and many of the hostage crew and pirates jumped overboard. While the Marines, using the RHIB's, saved them from drowning in the water, they were shot at once more. This time both from the dhow and from the shore. The marines fired back.
Finally, the Marines were able to rescue 25 from drowning. The captain of the dhow identified six of them as being pirates, having taken him and his Pakistani / Iranian crew hostage several weeks earlier in the waters off Oman. Of the 21 original crew of the dhow, two were reported missing.
Read more HERE.
Original source: Rechtspraak Netherlands [Dutch language]
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