INTERTANKO calls for prosecution of Bow Saga pirates

News Release INTERTANKO London August 6, 2010

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=unicode" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18928"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>
INTERTANKO calls for
prosecution of Bow Saga pirates
INTERTANKO calls for
the prosecution of the Somali pirates whose attack yesterday on the Norwegian
40,085 dwt chemical tanker Bow
Saga in the Gulf of Aden Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor
was frustrated by the Spanish frigate Victoria, where the pirates are now being
detained. 
We hope that these
men will not be released due to the absence of any country willing to detain
them and try them in court. We appeal to the Seizing State (Spain) or the Flag
State (Norway) to 'co-operate to the fullest possible extent in repression of
piracy' as per Art 100 of UNCLOS, and therefore to prosecute or extradite –
either to prosecute the pirates on the basis of customary international law, or
to transfer the prosecution to another state.
This summer has seen
the successful prosecution of pirates in Rotterdam and in the Seychelles,
resulting in prison sentences of five years for five pirates for the attack on
the Sananyolu and ten years for
11 pirates for the attack on the Topaz. We hope that this pressure to
obtain proper justice will be sustained in the case of the Bow Saga, particularly since we understand
that naval personnel who boarded and searched the skiff found weapons
onboard.
We understand that
the Master of the Bow Saga, which
is en route to Europe, has given a statement to a representative from EUNAVFOR.
One of the keys to a successful prosecution is availability of  officers
and crew of the naval vessel as well as of the attacked vessel to provide
witness statements in court or at least to provide written testimony.

We stand ready to
assist in any way we can with helping the process of obtaining evidence from
seafarers to facilitate prosecution, both with this incident and with any future
pirate attack.
“Bringing
these pirates to trial for their blatant flaunting of the international rules of
free trade and unhindered passage should be given first priority as the states
involved in this incident recognise their obligations under international law to
deliver justice,” says Michele White,
INTERTANKO’s General Counsel.</DIV></BODY></HTML>