Four Somalis with police officers go on trial in Busan yesterday for piracy and attempted murder in the Samho Jewelry case. By Song Bong-geun

Busan - Four stiff-faced Somalis accused of pirating the Samho Jewelry in January and shooting its captain entered a courtroom here at 11:46 a.m. yesterday, and so rare was the sight of alleged pirates on trial that the global media was present, including The AP, Reuters, the Asahi Shimbun and Al-Jazeera.

The cameras kept flashing but the tight-lipped Somalis ignored them, fixing their eyes on the judge’s bench.

It was the start of Korea’s first legal proceeding involving a piracy. Other countries whose ships have been hijacked in the waters off Somalia rarely bring the alleged pirates to trial.

Busan District Court Judge Kim Jin-seok will preside over the case of the five Somalis caught by Korean anti-piracy commandos during a rescue on Jan. 21. Eight other alleged pirates were killed during the operation.

Four of the Somalis, including Arai Mahomed, who is accused of shooting Samho Jewelry Capt. Seok Hae-gyun during the rescue, will have a five-day trial with a 12-person jury. The other Somali, Abdullah Hussein Mahamud, refused a jury trial and is scheduled to stand trial alone on June 1. The verdict and sentence recommended by the jury, comprised of Busan citizens, does not have to be accepted by the judge.

The first session included identification of the defendants, which took 14 minutes longer than the usual two because of three-way interpretation from Korean to English to Somali and back again. Legal analysts say the language barrier could be a stumbling block for both prosecutors and the Somalis’ four-member defense team.

One of the major issues in the trial is whether Arai will be convicted of shooting Captain Seok. If he is, he could face the death penalty.

The defendants’ lawyers have stressed that there were no witnesses to the shooting aside from the captain. Seok has given testimony on video, which will be played at the trial.

Another outstanding issue is whether the Busan court has legal jurisdiction over the case.

One of the lawyers for the Somalis said yesterday it didn’t. Lawyer Jeong Hae-yeong acknowledged the Korean government’s rights to arrest the defendants on the basis of international laws against piracy and various treaties, but claimed there are no legal grounds to have brought the defendants to Korea.

The court said it will make a decision on whether it has jurisdiction over the defendants when it makes its ruling on Friday.

“I came here to see what pirates look like and talk about them with my friends later,” said Jeong Yun-jin, a 75-year-old Busan citizen, who was in the courtroom. “It [piracy] is not something we are supposed to do as human beings. They should make a living from their labor.”


By Kim Sang-jin, Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]