UN: Somali pirate trials would cost more than 24 million dollars

The costs of establishing courts in Somalia and prosecuting detained pirates would be more than 24 million dollars over a three-year period, a UN study reported Thursday.

The study focused on Somali courts in the semi-independent regions of Somaliland and Puntland, which detain the largest numbers of pirates and already have some jurisdiction over crimes of piracy. Funding for the courts will be borne by the UN Development Programme and the UN Drugs and Crimes Office in Vienna.

One possibility is to establish an extraterritorial Somali anti-piracy court in another country, the study said. International law experts would be attracted to serve in the court, given sufficient funding and security.

Some countries have arrested and convicted Somali pirates under their own national legal systems.

There are currently a total of 1,011 pirates in detention in 20 countries and many of them have been convicted in courts in those countries, the study said.

Kenya is holding 119 pirates and has convicted 50; the Netherlands is holding 29 and convicted five.

The United States detains 28 and has convicted eight, Tanzania detains 12 and has convicted eight while Yemen arrested 120 and convicted all of them, Oman arrested 12 and convicted them.

Pirates under detention but not yet tried are in: Germany (10), India (118), France (15), Japan (four) and Maldives (34).

But the largest number of detained pirates so far are in Somalia: Puntland has 290 and convicted about 240; Somaliland has 94 and convicted 68, while the country's South Central region detains 18 pirates.

The UN study, carried out by former French culture and education minister Jack Lang, said the key question would be whether the extraterritorial court should have jurisdiction over Somali pirates who committed minor acts of piracy as well as the financiers and planners that support piracy in the high seas.

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