Suspected Nigerian pirate goes on trial in Denmark | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
The trial of a suspected Nigerian pirate charged with endangering Danish soldiers sailing in the international waters of the Gulf of Guinea opened on Monday in a Copenhagen court.
The man, who had to have his leg amputated because of the severity of the wounds he sustained in a gunfight with the Danish navy, has pleaded not guilty.
He faces up to one and a half years in prison if convicted.
The charges against the defendant relate to an incident on November 24, 2021, when the Danish naval frigate Esbern Snare was patrolling international waters off the coast of Nigeria to protect merchant ships.
When the Danish sailors attempted to board a pirate vessel, a firefight ensued.
Danish prosecutors accuse the pirates of firing first.
At 6.57 pm, a burst of gunfire was fired at the frigate’s helicopter. Another shot was fired 10 minutes later.
“The life of the personnel on board the helicopter was endangered,” according to the charge sheet.
The prosecution does not allege the defendant fired on the Danish sailors but has charged him, as a member of the alleged pirate gang, with “causing imminent danger to the lives of the Danish helicopter crew”.
At the opening of the trial, defence lawyer Jesper Storm Thygesen said his client should be acquitted, arguing that the Danish navy had fired first, Danish media reported.
Storm Thygesen also noted that the original charges against his client — piracy and attempted murder — had been downgraded.
“Now we have an indictment in which the charge has been reduced. This is of course because the prosecution has decided that it cannot prove attempted murder,” he told the court, according to broadcaster TV2.
The Nigerian was moved to Denmark because of his health — the first time the Scandinavian country has transferred a piracy suspect to its territory. It has no extradition agreement with the countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast.
Another three suspected pirates were detained after the gunfight but later released. Four others were killed during the clash and a fifth fell overboard, the Danish authorities said.
The Gulf of Guinea, which stretches 5,700 kilometres (3,500 miles) from Senegal to Angola, has been a troubled area for shipping companies.
In 2020, there were 115 skirmishes in the region, according to the Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Center.
That fell to 52 in 2021 and to 20 since the start of 2022.
AFP
