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Hijacked Russian Oil Tanker Freed
The Defense Ministry in Moscow affirmed Friday that the pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of “deficiency” in international law.Authorities initially said the pirates would be brought to Russia to face criminal charges after hijacking a Russian oil tanker. But Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexei Kuznetsov declared on Friday that the pirates have been released.
Kuznetsov declined to elaborate on the purported legal flaws that prompted the release.
The Law of the Seas Convention, to which Russia is a signatory, says that the courts of a country that seizes a pirated vessel on the high seas has the right to decide what penalties are to be imposed. However, some countries are wary of hauling in pirates for trial for fear of being saddled with them after they serve penal terms.
On his side, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday had hinted at potential tough punishment for the pirates.
He introduced the idea of establishing an international court and other legal tools to prosecute pirates. But Until then, he recommended to do what forefathers did when they met the pirates.
The pirates boarded the tanker Moscow University on Wednesday. They were arrested Thursday after special forces from a Russian warship stormed the tanker. A gunbattle ensued in which one pirate was killed; 10 others were arrested.
The warship opened with warning fire from large-caliber machine guns and a 30mm artillery complex, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Special forces troops then rappelled down to the tanker from a helicopter, Rear Adm. Jan Thornqvist, the European Union Naval Force commander, told an Associated Press reporter aboard the Swedish warship Carlskrona, which was patrolling 500 miles (800 kilometers) west of the rescue site.
The tanker’s 23 crew members, who had taken refuge in a safe room, were not injured.
International military forces have been more aggressively combating piracy, which has flourished off the coast of lawless Somalia into a multimillion-dollar industry.
Still, pirates are holding more than 300 hostages taken from ships off East Africa in the last several months.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said that the island nation of Seychelles would establish a regional center for the prosecution of piracy.