Bartamaha (Verginia):- Federal Prosecutors Say the Somalis Thought They Were Attacking a Merchant Ship When They Aimed Their Assault Rifles at a US Navy Frigate
For the first time since tales of swashbuckling villains first hit the popular consciousness in adventure novels, American jurors will weigh charges of “piracy under the law of nations” in a case of five Somali men accused of firing on a US warship.
It’s one of the oldest laws on the books, dating back to the early part of the 19th Century, when congress first recognized the power of American courts to punish those who would plunder ships in international waters if the pirates are brought to the United States.
It also happens to be one of the most serious crimes in the US Code, carrying a mandatory life prison sentence upon conviction.
While other alleged pirates from Somaliahave recently been brought into US courts, experts say the trial that begins with jury selection in Norfolk, Va. Tuesday marks the first time in at least 100 years, and perhaps since the earliest days of the Civil War, that American jurors will hear a case in which the defendants are charged with piracy, specifically, rather than lesser or related counts.
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Source:- ABC NEWS.
