Moscow University: 360 pirates 'released' at sea

In fact, the Russian destroyer wasn't the first to hit upon this solution. Asked last weekend, the commander of the European naval force that coordinates military operations off the Somali coast said there had been "similar instances" involving Dutch and Danish ships but declined to elaborate. He also noted that of 400 pirates captured in the past three months, only 40 have been prosecuted. The rest have been released. Or "released."


Leaving them to float away on a rubber dinghy might not be the best solution, but it's the only one we've got.
By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

HDMS Absalon (L16) helps MV SAMANYOLU

built: 1980, J.J. Sietas, Hamburg. Flag: Netherlands Antilles. Ex-name: FAGERVIK
The Dutch government said it will prosecute five suspected pirates captured this month by the Danish navy off the coast of Somalia after reaching an extradition agreement with Denmark. The ministers of justice from Denmark and the Netherlands agreed on the extradition during a brief meeting on the sidelines of an informal gathering of European justice ministers in Prague, Czech Republic, said Dutch spokesman Wim van der Weegen. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin informed Danish counterpart Brian Nikkelsen at a European ministers' meeting in Prague that the Dutch were ready to begin judicial proceedings against the pirates. The Dutch prosecutor's office was drawing up specific charges, but the suspects likely would be tried for piracy under international law, he said. HDMS Absalon (L16)captured the men in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 2 after receiving a distress call from an the MV SAMANYOLU, a cargo ship carrying the flag of the Netherlands Antilles, whose crew fended off the pirates with signal flares until a Danish ship arrived.