Judge in Spain ponders over fate of arrested Somalis

On Sunday, Spain began the judicial hearings to determine the fate of two Somali men, who were allegedly part of a hijacking team that left a Spanish tuna boat captured by sea-shifta near the coast of Somalia.

The tuna boat FV ALAKRANA was boarded by pirates and taken control of on Friday, on the high seas between Seychelles and Somalia.

At the moment the investigating magistrate, Baltasar Garzonat at Spain's National Audience, the country's top criminal court, is determining whether the pirates should be charged with terrorism, or kidnapping, or both.

The two pirates were captured by Spanish naval forces early Sunday, when they were followed after leaving the purse-seiner on a smaller boat. One of the Somalis was injured by the armed attack of Spanish commandos.

There are 36 crew members on board of the tuna-hauler, a modern purse-seiner of 100 m length.

All 36 crew members are in good condition and unharmed, Defense Minister Carme Chacon told Spanish National Television, without elaborating.

"We are studying all options, legal ones, of course. We are strengthening all fronts, the diplomatic one, investigation, intelligence and also that of military pressure," Chacon said, evading a question on whether the Spanish government would consider paying a ransom.

She noted that a German freighter was held for nearly four months before being freed in August. And the Spanish trawler Playa de Bakio seized in April 2008 was held for a week before the Spanish government reportedly paid a euro1.2 million ransom.

"So we can assume this might go on longer than the Playa de Bakio," Chacon said Monday.

According to Defence Ministry sources, Madrid judge Baltasar Garzon ordered the two captured Somalis to be brought to Spain for questioning. Since this is an extradition from Somali territory while no extradition treaty exists between Somalia and Spain, international human rights lawyers wonder how the Spanish government will justify its actions.

The prosecutors said the suspects, who were identified as "Abdou Willy" (they mean Andiweli) and "Raagegeesey" (thet mean Rage Geesey), should be brought to Spain to be questioned and remanded in jail on charges of illegal detention, robbery with violence and use of weapons. The case came under the jurisdiction of the National Court, because it involved a Spanish vessel and Spanish citizens, the prosecutors argued. When the Spanish navy captured seven pirates in May, they were handed over to Kenya for trial. Yet the agreement between the European Union and Kenya on piracy suspects was not valid for the Alakrana, because it was seized outside the area controlled by the Operation Atalanta, the prosecutors said, which is strange since EU NAVFOR just had extended its area of operation southwards from the Gulf of Aden to the Seychelles and extended it to 2010. Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon was now expected to confirm his order to bring the suspects to Spain.

The Spanish government meanwhile said Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke had promised Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos that his government would do its best to help Spain obtain the release of the Alakrana crew. Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon said the government was stepping up military, diplomatic and intelligence efforts.

'Spain does not have another way than to negotiate'

"The Spanish Government does not have another solution that to negotiate with the pirates".

This opinion, predicting the form in which the liberation of the 36 fishermen kidnapped with the Alakrana will be obtained, comes from sources close to the ambassador of Spain in Kenya, Nicholas Martin Cinto, a key figure in the negotiations with the pirates. The ambassador has played a fundamental role in solving previous kidnappings, among them the one of the Spanish journalist Jose Cendón, at the end of 2008, and the one of the tuna catcher FV PLAYA DI BAKIO, in April of that same year.

This has allowed the stout ambassador to establish a series of contacts in Somalia and with the clans to which some of the sea-shifta belong, that in this case will turn out to be essential.
At the moment, the objective of Nicolas Cinto, with the expressed wish of his Government, is to obtain a "rapid solution" of the hostage crisis, avoiding at all the negative impacts of a prolonged captivity at the hot coast of Somalia.

In aid of the ambassador, the Spanish Ministry of Defense decided to send several agents of the CNI, who will arrive in the next hours in Nairobi, the Spanish newspaper EL MUNDO confirmed from sources of the Executive, according to Roberto Benito.

The experience with the case of the Playa di Bakio will be of enormous value, since that case was resolved in six days with a never officially confirmed payment of over a million Euros.

Nicholas Cinto is reported to have first results. According to sources of the Spanish Government, the ambassador managed to get directly in contact with the Alakrana and could speak with the captain and co-owner of the fishing boat, Ricardo Blach, who told him that the crew is well and that is held in the dining room of the boat.

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