PROBLEMS WITH PIRACY TRIALS IN SEYCHELLES - LACK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT LOUIS 000143

SIPDIS

AF/E FOR MARIA BEYZEROV
AF/RSO FOR JUN BANDO AND MIKE BITTRICK
S/P FOR PETER HARELL
L FOR BUCHHOLS AND BINIAZ
ANTAN FOR DAO
NAIROBI FOR KUSLO
PRETORIA FOR LEGAT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2019
TAGS: MARR PREL MASS MOPPS SE
SUBJECT: PROBLEMS WITH PIRACY TRIALS IN SEYCHELLES - LACK
OF LEGAL FRAMEWORK

REF: A. PORT LOUIS 132

B. PORT LOUIS 130

C. PORT LOUIS 137

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Virginia Blaser for reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) As of 7 May, the Seychelles had 23 suspected Somali
pirates in detention on the main island of Mahe. These
arrests were largely a result of international partners
providing surveillance and pursuit capabilities. GOS legal
and political leaders voice no consistent analysis on how to
successfully prosecute the 23 arrested to date, and worry
about the legal framework for future arrests. The UK, the
EU, and the UN have promised legal, technical and financial
support, but some observers fear the current detainees may
not be successfully convicted. A myriad of options -- from
creating new laws to using unrelated laws to charge the
suspects -- are under consideration by GOS and other
partners. In the meantime, the detainees will remain in
custody and their cases may be facing repeated legal
deferrals.

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UNCLEAR CURRENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK
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2. (C) According to Seychelles Attorney General (AG) Ronny
Govinden, the GOS is finding it problematic to determine
under what laws the government can process the 23 suspected
Somali pirates now in Seychelles custody. Piracy laws are
lacking, he said, so he may prosecute the detainees using the
2007 terrorism act (based on the fact that the Somalis "had
ammunition and represented a threat to the economy"),or
perhaps on immigration violations, illegal fishing, or a
combination of the above. According to the AG, their current
"best" piracy law would be local penal code that links their
law to UK law and is in accordance with the "international
law of piracy on the high seas." AG further noted the
possibility of GOS using the 'Offenses at Sea' Act, which
equates penalties and offenses committed on the high seas
with those committed on land, for example armed robbery
committed at sea would be treated the same as armed robbery
committed on land. The evidence against the detainees is
largely circumstantial, and makes it additionally difficult
to prosecute. The cases they could build are reliant on the
testimony of officials of foreign ships (French, Spanish,
Indian),which may or may not be able to testify in a manner
which assists convictions. Information sharing is lacking,
Govinden said with a great deal of frustration.


3. (C) In a 5 May meeting with the CDA, Anthony Fernando, the
former Attorney General and now one of the four judges on the
Seychelles Appeals Court, opined that the GOS may need to
revert to the 1972 penal code to process the current Somali
cases. Chapter 158, subsection 65 states: "Any person who is
guilty of piracy or any crime connected with or relating or
akin to piracy shall be liable to be tied and punished
according to the law of England for the time being in force."
There is some debate, Fernando said, whether the language
"for the time being in force" means the UK law in place at
the time the penal code was passed into law in Seychelles, or
whether it means at the time a piracy crime is committed
(i.e. modern laws). He feared that there is enough ambiguity
in the law as pertaining to piracy, that a decent defense
lawyer could defeat the AG's efforts for prosecution.


4. (C) In a May 5 meeting with EMBOFFS, Declan Barber,
Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and close
security consultant to the President (see ref B),opined that
the GOS "absolutely does not" have appropriate anti-piracy
laws in place.

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ANOTHER LEGAL ISSUE - CHILD PIRATES
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5. (C) According to Barber, the GOS faces additional legal
complications. For example, it may be impossible for the

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Government to try a minor for piracy; a serious question
given that at least two of the suspect pirates are minors and
one of them is only 15 years old. In the Seychelles, he
said, it is usual for any minor suspected of either civil or
criminal crimes to be released without trial. The head of
the opposition, Wavel Ramkalawan, also commented on the
"child pirate" issue, citing his concern that the AG publicly
stated he would prosecute any pirate as an adult --
regardless of age. Ramkalawan opined that the child pirates
engender a growing amount of sympathy among the Seychellois
people, who regularly see photos in the press of the suspect
pirates. Rumors that when found the pirates had little food,
were near starving, had no proper clothes and were "forced
onto khat could cause the public to see them -- especially
the child pirates -- as victims, he said.


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INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
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6. (C) The President (ref C) and the AG both commented on
support the GOS hopes to receive from the UN, EU, and UK,
particularly for technical assistance regarding the legal
framework addressing piracy. According to Amy Bowers, Vice
Consul at the British High Commission in Seychelles, HMG
recently sponsored a group of UK legal experts, to include
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) lawyer Katherine
Shepard, to review the current Seychellois laws regarding
piracy. Although the final report was not yet completed (CDA
asked for a copy when it was),Bowers commented that in her
close out briefings with the UK team, they said the GOS lacks
key assets for prosecution, including the lack of translators
to assist during the trials. Interestingly, Bowers mentioned
that she has reason to believe a British attorney, paid for
by unknown persons in Somalia, would be coming to Seychelles
to make up part of the defense team for some of the detained
Somalis. The first legal review is scheduled to take place on
12 May. According to Bowers, the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) also seeks to provide assistance for both the
prosecution and defense, to supply and interpreter/translator
for the hearings, and to expand the capacity of the prisons
and the judges. Bowers concluded that in response to the
'wish list' of dipnotes received by all of the diplomatic
missions, the UNODC stepped in to help coordinate the aid.
In a separate meeting with AG, he also said that UNODC
assistance was in the pipeline and that the Seychelles
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) had the lead on
coordinating this. If the international community wanted GOS
cooperation for capturing and prosecuting pirates, such
cooperation comes with a price tag, he stressed.

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PARTNERS OR QUASI PARTNERS?
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7. (C) Across the board -- from the President on down -- the
GOS officials opined that the GOS could not, and would not,
provide trials for pirates caught on the high seas who were
involved in incidents that did not have a direct connection
to the Seychelles. GOS officials seemed concerned about the
GOS's legal and logistical capacity, and they voiced concern
that partner nations (i.e. the Europeans) may be considering
a way around this. For example, both Jean Paul Adam,
Secretary of State to the Presidency, and Leader of the
Opposition Ramkalawan, recounted their suspicions that one of
three groups arrested in Seychelles EEZ was the same group
picked up a day or so previously by the French military.
Both suspected the French had picked the pirates up, then
brought them into the Seychelles EEZ before letting them go
to be "found" by locals and thus fall to GOS to process.

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WHAT ABOUT NEW LAWS
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8. (C) According to Barber, he has arranged an Irish expert
to travel to the Seychelles to begin assisting the GOS in

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drafting a new and more potent piracy law. Barber was
optimistic that it would only take a week or so to get a new
law drafted, and a relatively short period of time after to
get such a law passed by the Parliament. The AG was a bit
less optimistic a new law could be written and passed by
Parliament so quickly; he opined it could take several
months.

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COMMENT
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9. (C) From our meetings throughout the GOS, it appears
clear that the Seychelles authorities remain uncertain how to
legally move forward on the current piracy cases. They likely
lack the laws and the evidence to obtain a piracy conviction.
They will be seeking some convictions, however, and some
sectors report that the GOS hopes to have pirates on hand to
exchange for some of the Seychellois still being held by
pirates in Somalia (additional report to follow). The
Seychellois are looking for both financial and technical
support from partner nations to assist them in these and
future trials.
BLASER