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A federal judge has dismissed the most serious charges of piracy against Somalis apprehended in an attack upon a U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden in April. District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled in Norfolk this week that the actions of the six defendants did not constitute piracy because they neither boarded the U.S.S. Ashland nor took anything of value from it. Even though the men were accused of opening fire on the Ashland, the judge still ruled that prosecutors failed to establish that it was an “unauthorized act of aggression” which defines piracy under the law. The group still faces a number of lesser counts. In the gunfight, the Ashland opened fire on the assailants, killing one and sinking their skiff. Five other accused Somali pirates from a March attack on the U.S.S. Nicholas are also being held on piracy charges.
Source: Voice of America
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