PARIS (AFP) — Suspected Somali pirates brought to France by elite special forces were charged Friday with taking a luxury yacht's crew hostage off Africa, but a Paris judge had still to decide on bail competence.
The six men, aged 21 to 46, will face trial for the "abduction and detention of hostages with a view to obtaining a ransom," as well as "theft" and "receiving stolen goods," prosecutors said.
The charges specify the organised nature of the Somali group, with one of the men also being investigated for "hijacking" the Ponant, which if convicted, carries a life sentence.
Later on Friday evening, a separate judge is to decide on bail arrangements, following prosecutors' requests for the six to be held in French detention regardless of a legal imbroglio.
Despite the lack of any formal extradition accord, Paris prosecutors insisted Friday that the group being "handed over" to French justice officials for trial did not involve any "irregularities".
After initial detention on board a French warship, the group were flown to France on Wednesday, where they spent 48 hours cooperating with investigators, court officials added.
During interrogation, the presumed leader and one accomplice were identified by hostages from among the freed French, Filipino, Cameroonian and Ukrainian crew as having boarded the ship in the Gulf of Aden on April 4.
Three others are accused of participating in the ship and crew's week-long detention off the self-proclaimed autonomous Puntland coast at Garaad-Ade, with the sixth identified as their driver.
After releasing the crew, the pirates were captured on Friday in a dramatic raid as they sought to escape in a 4x4 vehicle with around 200,000 dollars (125,000 euros) of cash, according to French sources.
Despite contradictory claims, sources said a two-million-dollar ransom was paid to men experts said operated under the umbrella of the Somali Marines.
Structured along formal army lines, they enjoy tribal warlord protection with separate business associates handling financial negotiations on what the men told prosecutors was an "Eldorado" haul.
Somali officials and witnesses said three herdsmen were killed during the French operation, but the military in Paris has denied any pirates were killed.
Regional rulers on Thursday demanded compensation for civilian deaths they claim occurred during the military operation and said only two of the six suspects captured were pirates.
"The other four were khat (mild narcotic leaves) traders selling their goods to the pirates," when they were snatched, said Dahir Abdulkadir Ahmed, the governor of the Mugug region where the operation was carried out.
Investigators admitted Thursday that the chances of catching any of the others involved in the Ponant seizure were "relatively feeble".
The hostages have confirmed that they were unhurt physically despite their psychological ordeal.
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