ID :
179409
Mon, 05/02/2011 - 19:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/179409
The shortlink copeid
'Minor' indicted for alleged piracy on Japan-run tanker off Oman
TOKYO (Kyodo) - Tokyo prosecutors on Monday indicated a man who claims to be a Somalian minor over an attack on a tanker operated by Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. off the coast of Oman in the Indian Ocean in March.
The defendant will be tried, together with three alleged accomplices in their 20s who have already been indicted, by a panel of professional and citizen judges under Japan's antipiracy law which took effect in July 2009.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office instituted the action against the minor after completing necessary procedures under the juvenile law.
According to the indictment, the four men who claim to be Somalian used a small boat to approach the Bahamian-registered 57,462-ton tanker Guanabara and boarded it March 5. They fired a submachine gun in an attempt to control the tanker.
The four have denied the allegations against them, telling investigators they were on board a wrecked ship and approached the tanker seeking help, according to prosecution sources.
Although the fourth defendant may have come of age, it is impossible to confirm it, the sources said.
The U.S. Navy monitored an SOS signal from the tanker and the four men surrendered to the U.S. Navy on March 6. They were handed over to a Japanese destroyer on the high seas off Somalia. A Japan Coast Guard jet aircraft then took them to Japan on March 13.
The defendant will be tried, together with three alleged accomplices in their 20s who have already been indicted, by a panel of professional and citizen judges under Japan's antipiracy law which took effect in July 2009.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office instituted the action against the minor after completing necessary procedures under the juvenile law.
According to the indictment, the four men who claim to be Somalian used a small boat to approach the Bahamian-registered 57,462-ton tanker Guanabara and boarded it March 5. They fired a submachine gun in an attempt to control the tanker.
The four have denied the allegations against them, telling investigators they were on board a wrecked ship and approached the tanker seeking help, according to prosecution sources.
Although the fourth defendant may have come of age, it is impossible to confirm it, the sources said.
The U.S. Navy monitored an SOS signal from the tanker and the four men surrendered to the U.S. Navy on March 6. They were handed over to a Japanese destroyer on the high seas off Somalia. A Japan Coast Guard jet aircraft then took them to Japan on March 13.
