Thursday, September 25, 2008
The suspected pirates were captured off the Somali coast and flown to France after French special forces stormed aboard the Carre d'As yacht on September 15 to rescue its crew, a French couple. A seventh suspect was killed.
The six were immediately detained on their arrival Tuesday, and are expected to be charged with hijacking, hostage-taking for ransom and conspiracy.
The prosecutor was expected Thursday to open a formal investigation against the men, paving the way for charges to be brought against them.
The charges carry life sentences and are the same as those brought against six more Somalis captured in April in an earlier raid by French commandos to release the crew of a French-owned luxury cruise yacht.
A legal official said the gang had demanded two million dollars (1.36 million euros) for the safe return of the Carre d'As and its crew, Jean-Yves Delanne et his wife Bernadette, both aged 60, but that no talks had been entered into before the commando raid.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to get tough with the gangs who prey on shipping in the waters off east Africa's most troubled state.
He has called for the creation of an international naval patrol to protect shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and escort humanitarian aid to Somalia.
Dozens of ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been seized by gangs off Somalia's 3,700-kilometre (2,300-mile) coastline in recent years, despite the presence of Western navies deployed in the region to fight terrorism.
The pirates travel in high-powered speedboats and are armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. They sometimes hold ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.
Source: AFP, Sept 25, 2008