Kenya Opens Pirate Court

A special court to try suspected pirates was opened in Kenya on Thursday.
Kenya Opens Pirate Court
Confiscated weapons and ammunition from suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial on June 24, which are being used as evidence at the Shimo la Tewa maximum prison (in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa) are displayed during a visit by Justice minister, Mutula Kilonzo alongside other dignitaries who inaugurated a court at the prison to try pirates. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)
Jasper Fakkert
6/24/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/kenya102382687.jpg" alt="Confiscated weapons and ammunition from suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial on June 24, which are being used as evidence at the Shimo la Tewa maximum prison (in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa) are displayed during a visit by Justice minister, Mutula Kilonzo alongside other dignitaries who inaugurated a court at the prison to try pirates.  (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Confiscated weapons and ammunition from suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial on June 24, which are being used as evidence at the Shimo la Tewa maximum prison (in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa) are displayed during a visit by Justice minister, Mutula Kilonzo alongside other dignitaries who inaugurated a court at the prison to try pirates.  (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1818169"/></a>
Confiscated weapons and ammunition from suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial on June 24, which are being used as evidence at the Shimo la Tewa maximum prison (in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa) are displayed during a visit by Justice minister, Mutula Kilonzo alongside other dignitaries who inaugurated a court at the prison to try pirates.  (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)
A special court to try suspected pirates was opened in Kenya on Thursday.

Kenya currently holds 106 suspected pirates in custody, mainly from arrests by the international navy patrolling waters off the coast of Somalia.

The court was funded by international donors, which include the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Union.

Earlier this year Kenya said it would stop prosecutions unless other countries gave security guarantees and shared the costs.

Prosecuting pirates has proved to be an arduous task, as Somalia itself lacks a stable central government.

Last week marked the first time an EU court made a conviction against a pirate. On June 17, a Dutch court sentenced five Somali pirates each to five years in prison.

Despite dozens of warships in the vast region, which is part of an EU naval force to curb piracy, the number of attacks by pirates doubled last year.
Jasper Fakkert is the Editor-in-chief of the U.S. editions of The Epoch Times. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Science and a Master's degree in Journalism. Twitter: @JasperFakkert
Related Topics