An Indian court has sentenced 44 Somali pirates to life imprisonment for hijacking two vessels off the coast of Somalia, including the Bulgarian-operated cargo ship Ruen, whose crew included seven Bulgarian sailors.
The sentences were handed down by a special court in Mumbai in two separate piracy cases involving the seizure of a merchant vessel and a fishing boat. In both incidents, the attackers took crew members hostage before Indian naval forces intervened, rescued the captives, and arrested the pirates in 2024.
According to the court's rulings, all 44 defendants pleaded guilty during the proceedings. Judge S. B. Dighe described the crimes as exceptionally grave, saying, "Piracy on the high seas by hijacking a ship, holding crew members hostage for ransom, attempting to kill them and using them as human shields are extremely serious acts that cannot be underestimated."
The first attack took place in December 2023, when 35 Somali pirates seized the Maltese-flagged cargo ship Ruen, which had seven Bulgarian crew members on board. In a separate incident in March 2024, another group of nine Somalis hijacked the Iranian-flagged fishing vessel Al Kambar.
The convicted men have been held at Taloja Prison in Navi Mumbai since their capture in 2024. Local media reported that they were present in court when the verdicts were delivered. During the proceedings, the defendants requested to be returned to Somalia to face trial there, but the Indian court rejected that request.
