Hijacking of the yacht Tanit in 2009
The hijacking of the yacht Tanit 2009 took place from April 4th to 9th, 2009 off the coast of Somalia . The French Navy freed the crew.
Happening
With the Tanit , a 12 meter long sailing yacht, two French couples and a three year old child were sailing off Somalia. The yacht , coming from Zanzibar , sailed along the coast of Tanzania , ignoring warnings not to sail through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off Somalia. Somali pirates took control of the French sailor and his crew around 900 kilometers from the Somali coast on April 4.
Negotiators tried to offer the pirates a ransom for a release, while CNN said the kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages one by one. The pirates seemed to be moving further and further away from the mainland by boat, which accelerated the intervention of the French armed forces. A French Navy boarding team freed the hostages on April 9, 2009. The child's father and two of the pirates were killed during the military operation. Three pirates were arrested. The German frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with its hospital on board, which was deployed in the framework of the EU NAVFOR Somalia - Operation Atalanta on the Gulf of Aden, also assisted in the liberation operation .
The captured pirates were brought to France and charged there. They were each sentenced to nine years in prison. The French public prosecutor's office had demanded sentences of ten to twelve years in prison against the three pirates between the ages of 26 and 31.
background
In the year before the hijacking of the "Tanit", the sailing cruise ship " Le Ponant " was hijacked by Somali pirates off the Somali coast . According to the “Piratmer” deployment plan, the special unit of the French Gendarmerie GIGN was deployed. She assisted the shipowner with the ransom negotiations, later intervened on site and captured several of the pirates with part of the ransom.
The liberation of the sailing yacht "Tanit" was carried out by a command unit of the French Navy.
The experience of the actions carried out by French forces was taken as an indication that the use of police anti-terrorist units might be more promising than that of military units.
Individual evidence
- ^ France charges suspected pirates. BBC, April 17, 2009, accessed July 22, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Geisel dies in storming a captured yacht. Welt Online, April 10, 2009, accessed July 22, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Hostage, 2 pirates killed in French rescue operation - CNN.com. In: edition.cnn.com. Retrieved July 23, 2016 .
- ^ Judgment: Nine years imprisonment for yacht pirates. Yacht , accessed July 22, 2016 .
- ↑ What happens after the GSG-9 mission has stopped? In: www.tagesspiegel.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .