Case Western Reserve War Crimes Research Office memo cited in major piracy judgment

The Supreme Court of the Seychelles, which is prosecuting cases of Somali pirates apprehended by various countries in the Indian Ocean, cited and quoted from a memo prepared by the Case Western Reserve University War Crimes Research Office in its path-breaking judgment in the case of The Republic v. Mohamed Abdi Jama & Six Others, CS No. 53, July 25, 2012, at paragraphs 49-50.

Drawing from the memo’s research about 19th-century slavery cases, the Supreme Court concluded that the Seychelles could exercise universal jurisdiction over a vessel and its crew found in possession of piratical equipment on the high seas under an expanded conception of attempt to commit piracy.