Seven Somalis go on trial in France on Tuesday, accused of piracy and murder. This will be the fourth trial of Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden to be held in France, and it may be the last, given the dramatic drop in piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia in recent years, reports RFI.
Seven Somali men, aged between 25 and 32 years old, are accused of pirating a catamaran in 2011 off the coast of Somalia.
On board was a French couple, Christian and Evelyne Colombo, who were on a round-the world trip. They left the port of Aden in Yemen on 3 September 2011, heading for Oman.
Five days later, after a distress signal, naval authorities found the empty boat with bullet holes and blood on the deck. Two days after that, the Spanish navy raided a boat suspected of belonging to the pirates and rescued Evelyne Colombo who was being held on board.
She said her husband’s body had been dumped at sea.
The seven Somalis on board (two others were killed in the raid) were transferred to France, where they have been detained ever since, pending trial.
Rachel Lindon, a lawyer representing one of the seven defendants says the context these men were coming from is important in this trial.
She and the other lawyers will argue that coming from a failed state, the men had very few other options than to try to take boats hostage for ransom.