Short of evidence, witnesses, Dutch prosecutors face tough case against 5 Somali pirates

5 Somalis face piracy charges in Dutch trial

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Five Somali men went on trial in a Dutch court for the 17th century crime of “sea robbery” Tuesday in Europe’s first piracy trial since a surge of attacks on shipping off the Somalia’s lawless coast. One defendant wept and shouted that poverty had forced him into his situation.

Scores of pirates have been detained and several have been brought to Europe, but many are released because of the cost and difficulty of bringing them to trial. Other European countries will be watching the Dutch case closely to weigh the merits of bringing piracy suspects to trial.

The five men were captured in January 2009 after allegedly attacking a cargo ship registered in the Dutch Antilles in the Gulf of Aden. The ship’s crew held off the attack with flares until a Danish navy frigate intervened and sank the pirates’ boat.

If convicted, they face a maximum of 12 years in prison.

As the trial got under way in a top-security prison in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, four of the five men told presiding judge Jan Willem Klein Wolterink they were innocent.

The fifth, 39-year-old Sayid Ali Garaar, made an emotional appeal that sounded like an attempt to justify attacking the ship.

“If our children are hungry, who is responsible?” he shouted. His remarks were translated into Dutch.

“You sleep in your house, I am in prison. I have no country, no family, nothing,” he added, wiping tears from his eyes. “I got into this situation because I am prepared to do anything.”

The five suspects looked healthy as they walked into the courtroom and shook hands with their lawyers.

One of them, Farah Ahmed Yusuf, 25, told judges that statements he made shortly after his arrest — that he took to the sea with the intention of hijacking ships — were made when he was confused and hungry shortly after his arrest.

He said the suspects all took to the sea to fish for sharks. He said the skiff carrying the five suspects had engine trouble and they were appealing for help when mistaken for pirates.

The other four suspects were expected to make statements later Tuesday.

Prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said he believed the trial was the first of Somali piracy suspects in a European court.

French authorities have detained dozens of pirates in operations off Somalia in the past couple of years, handed some over to Somalian or Kenyan authorities, and brought several back to France. None has yet been brought to trial in France, and the investigations are still ongoing. Two piracy suspects are awaiting trial in Spain for hijacking a fishing vessel last year.

Another group of Somalis is in a Dutch jail fighting extradition to Germany, which has issued a warrant for their arrest on piracy charges.

Last week, a Somali man pleaded guilty in a New York court to hijacking U.S.-flagged ship Maersk Alabama on April 8, 2009, and kidnapping its captain. He faces a minimum 27 years in prison. Sentencing was set for Oct. 19.

But mostly, pirates who have been captured by an international naval task force have been released because of the difficulty and expense of bringing them to trial. The disarmed attackers usually are put back on their boats with enough food and fuel to reach the coast.

Kenya and the Seychelles have been the only countries prosecuting suspected pirates, but Kenya halted its trials, citing the high cost of imprisoning suspects and bringing them to court. Last week, however, Kenya announced it will resume taking piracy suspects from the international fleet for trial.

The difficulties facing prosecutors were underscored Tuesday when the court-funded Dutch defense lawyers asked for the case to be adjourned because they had only been able to interview one of the eight-member crew of the boat that was attacked, the Samanyulo.

The court rejected the request and Judge Klein Wolterink opened the trial by reading summaries of statements taken from Danish marines who arrested the suspects and crew members of the Samanyulo.

Danish marines who flew over the pirates’ skiff in a helicopter said they saw no weapons on board, but said the small boat was carrying a ladder with hooks at one end used for boarding ships. The helicopter pilot said there was no doubt that it was an act of piracy.

After the Danish helicopter fired warning shots at the skiff, four of the pirates jumped overboard. The fifth also leapt into the water a short time later. All five were then picked up by a Danish navy boat. They were later handed to Dutch authorities for trial because the Samanyulo was sailing under a Dutch Antilles flag.

The Samanyulo’s captain said in his statement that the pirates were heavily armed and repeatedly shot at his ship and crew with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

He responded by firing flares at the skiff, one of which set it ablaze.

“They shot a lot,” his statement said. “I heard many salvoes from a machine gun.”