Despite the media neglect, at present, nearly 1,200 buccaneers are being held in prisons in half the world.
From spending on criminal bailouts, this week, a Kenyan court condemned to nine Somalis to five years in prison after finding them guilty of violent abduction of MV Magellan Star, in September 2010.
“They (the pirates) endangered the lives of the crew by shooting at her’, claimed the indictment.
According to a recent report by One Earth Future Foundation, the costs in global markets caused by attacks in the Indian Ocean dropped by almost 13 certainly in 2012.
The paper highlights how the expenses caused by piracy happened in just one year USD $7 billion in 2011, to between $5.7 and $6.1 billion dollars in twelve months. Similarly, the value of the ransom paid was reduced by 80 percent.
However, the same document says that the cost caused by the imprisonment of pirates captured in the Indian Ocean was close to $6 million . This figure is 27 percent higher than the previous period, due to an increase in the number of pirates sentenced in Europe : If in 2011 there were 72 pirates serving sentences in the Old Continent and caused an expenditure of $3.4 million, in 2012 there were 99 buccaneers at a cost of $4.7 million.
And not only is Europe. Today, of the nearly 1,200 pirates held globally, 870 are serving sentences in Africa. Among the countries particularly involved in these correctional measures are Kenya itself, the semi-autonomous state of Somaliland (Hargeisa-whose capital already has a prison to house 380 inmates), and the neighbouring region of Puntland.
However, outside African borders, countries like Yemen (129 Somali pirates in its prisons) or India (119)  and Seychelles continue this trend.
Recently, though. In May 2010, in the first trial of its kind in Europe, the Dutch Justice condemned to terms of five years in prison for so many Somali pirates captured in January 2009 in the Gulf of Aden, after thefailed boarding the ship Samanyulo, with the Netherlands flag.
Since then there have been similar trials in Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
The latest in U.S.A.
Just earlier this month, in the U.S. there were proceedings against three Somalis accused of murdering four Americans whose boat, the pleasure yacht S / V Quest, was attacked in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Oman in February 2011.
The prosecution has already confirmed that they are asking for Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osmane Chiek Beyle and Chani Nurani Abrar be sentenced to the death penalty.
Original Source: ABC.es by Eduardo S. Molano (Twitter @ EDUARDOSMOLANO); Correspondent in Nairobi
Via: http://www.oceanuslive.org/
