Skip to main content
The Netherlands

Dutch court sentences Somali pirates to five years in prison

Five Somali men were sentenced to five years in prison by a Dutch court on Thursday for attacking a Dutch Antilles-flagged ship in 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. They are the first Somali pirates to stand trial in Europe.

Wikimedia Commons
Advertising

"The court sentences the defendants to a prison sentence of five years," said court president Jan Willem Klein Wolterink.

The five men aged between 25 and 45 all pleaded not guilty on the first day of their trial at a Rotterdam court at the end of May.

They told the court they were simple fishermen who were attacked as they sought help from the Samanyolu ship, after developing engine trouble and running out of food and water at sea.

But prosecutors said they were arrested after attacking the ship at the beginning of 2009 with automatic weapons and rockets.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.