G8 vows legal cooperation to tackle Somali piracy

By Daniel Flynn and Antonella Cinelli

ROME (Reuters) - Ministers from G8 industrialised nations agreed on Saturday to work towards a legal framework for the trial of Somali pirates, seen as a major obstacle to policing the dangerous shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa.

Justice and interior ministers from the world's eight leading industrial powers, concluding a two-day meeting in Rome, pledged to help strengthen the criminal justice system in poor regions affected by piracy, such as east Africa.

They also recognised the need for agreements between countries that arrest pirates and those able to prosecute them -- often Western nations with more developed judiciaries.

Several G8 countries are taking part in EU and NATO naval task forces combating piracy in one of the world's busiest shipping routes off the coast of Somalia, where the number of vessels hijacked by pirates has risen sharply in recent months.

But captured pirates present a judicial headache for Western nations, which often lack official jurisdiction. Some forces simply release captured pirates, often poor local fishermen.

"We want to strengthen our ability to investigate and prosecute this crime and recover the assets illegally obtained through piracy," Italian Justice Minister Angelino Alfano, whose country chairs the G8 this year, told a news conference.

If pirates are tried in the West, they might be able to claim asylum but if they are tried in war-torn Somalia they are unlikely to receive a fair trial, experts say.

Neighbouring Kenya has accepted some detainees but it is reluctant to receive a deluge of piracy cases and trials there have already received a legal challenge from Germany.