A group of Somali pirates, captured in the Gulf of Aden, was forced to be released by Russia naval forces because of “imperfections in international law”.
A daring operation was launched by commandos to rescue the seized Russian oil tanker.
One pirate was killed in the 22-minute firefight and 10 were arrested, several of them injured, in a dawn raid on the ship yesterday, hailed as a victory for the Russia’s oft-criticised navy.
Those captured were expected to face trial in Moscow but today Colonel Alexei Kuznetzov said that “imperfections in international law” meant they had to be released.
The pirates were captured when marines from the Marshal Shaposhnikov, a Russian warship, stormed the oil tanker, called the Moscow University.
Colonel Kuznetsov declined to elaborate on the legal flaws that prompted the release.
The Law of the Seas Convention, to which Russia is a signatory, says that the courts of a country that seizes a pirated vessel on the high seas has the right to decide what penalties are to be imposed. However, some countries are wary of hauling in pirates for trial for fear of them remaining in the country after they serve prison terms.
Colonel Kuznetsov appeared to echo those concerns when asked why the pirates who seized the tanker were released.
“Why should we feed some pirates?” he said.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President had yesterday hinted at possible tough punishments for the pirates taken in the troubled waters off the coast of Somalia.
“Perhaps we should get back to the idea of establishing an international court and other legal tools to prosecute pirates,” he said.
“Until then, we’ll have to do what our forefathers did when they met the pirates.”