A Somali man under indictment in the United States has admitted hijacking the Danish-administered CEC Future in the Gulf of Aden in November 2008, according to information sent to Politiken by a court in Washington D.C.

The case is a major breakthrough in attempts to bring Somali pirates to justice, according to Ass. Prof. Birgit Feldmann of the University of Southern Denmark.

“It is the first time we have a pirate who is about to be sentenced following a hijacking,” Feldmann says.

Other pirates currently awaiting trial in Kenya and the Netherlands have not actually carried out hijackings, but have been caught during attempts to do so.

Per Gullestrup, CEO of the Copenhagen-based Clipper Group which administers the CEC Future says he is relieved that the FBI has managed to bring the case to court.

“It should not be possible to attack merchant vessels unpunished, so it is important that pirates are apprehended and tried,” Gullestrup says adding: “It is important for a sense of justice in general. It is not enough that naval vessels hunt pirates in the Gulf of Aden – that is just treating symptoms.”

The CEC Future and its crew were eventually released after 71 days in captivity and following payment by Clipper Group of a USD 1.7 million ransom.

The 38-year-old Somali man was apprehended by the US Navy on April 10 this year when he and five others went on another raid in the Gulf of Aden and shot at a vessel they thought was a merchant vessel. The vessel was, however, the US Navy’s USS Ashland.

According to politiken.dk’s information, the prosecution and defence in the case have bargained a punishment of 25 years in prison for the hijack of the CEC Future, but it is unclear whether he is liable to an additional 30-year term in the USS Ashland case.

A sentencing date has not yet been set.