Source: El Pais
Two of the 36 sailors from the Basque tuna seiner Alakrana kidnapped for 47 days in Somali waters, have applied to be admitted as party in the trial, which will take place during the coming months, against Hasan Raageggesey Aji and Cabduwelli Cabdulahi, Abdu Willy, the pirates arrested by the Spanish Armada as they left the seized fishing vessel.
The fourth section of the Criminal High Court has accepted their request.
They are the only crew members who have agreed to pursue the prosecution against these two kidnappers.
However, last November, Judge Santiago Pedraz approached the boatowner, Kepa Etxebarria, as well as the 16 Spanish crew members -8 Galician fishermen and 8 Basque fishermen- to take part of the proceedings before the court, when he travelled to their hometowns Gemika (Vizcaya) and Vigo (Pontevedra) to take their testimony of the events.
There is no fixed date for the trial, as yet. Willy Abdu had discharged his lawyer and was therefore appointed a new one. The appointment took one month and only now does new lawyer have access to the file. As soon as he finishes studying it, which will be within a 10-day period, the court will open trial and hand over the case to the prosecutor, as well as the fishermen’s disposition and that of the pirates’ lawyers, so that they can proceed with their accusations and defense respectively. Once these documents have been drafted, the court will set a trial date.
In the kidnapping investigation, the prosecutor considered Cabdulahi and Hasan author of 36 kidnappings, robbery and use of weapons, which could represent penalties of more than 200 years.
On Monday, the judge took the statement of the owner of Alakrana, Kepa Etxebarria in connection to the investigation about the "financial legal frame linked to the hijackers" which was requested by the prosecution; trying to allocate blame to the people involved in collecting the ransom of 2.7 million Euros, which was paid to the pirates, presumably brokers and lawyers.
However, the investigation is advancing very slowly. The judge has requested three reports regarding the circumstances under which the payment took place; these were requested to the Spanish Secret Service CNI-which actively participated in the release of the fishermen-, the Civil Guard and the Commissioner General of Police Information.
Last month, the Secret Service rejected the judge’s request stating that the material was classified and that it did not have Government permission to release the data. The Civil guard responded to the request by stating that it has no knowledge about the details of the ransom. The judge is yet to receive an answer from the Police.