Suspected Somali pirates scheduled for arraignment in federal court in Virginia
By APWednesday, April 28, 2010
Piracy pleas expected in US court in Va.
NORFOLK, Va. — Eleven suspected Somali pirates accused in separate attacks on two Navy ships off the coast of Africa are due before a U.S. magistrate in a Virginia courtroom.
The defendants are expected to enter pleas in Norfolk on Wednesday to charges of piracy, plundering and weapons counts that could send them to prison for life. They will also be assigned attorneys.
Five of the men were captured March 31, after the frigate USS Nicholas exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel west of the Seychelles, off the coast of east Africa.
The other six were captured after they allegedly began shooting at the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland on April 10 about 380 miles off Djibouti (jih-BOO’-tee), a small nation facing Yemen across the mouth of the Red Sea.
