Judge Raymond Jackson of Norfolk, Virginia ruled that US government prosecutors "failed to establish that any unauthorized acts of violence or aggression committed on the high seas constitutes piracy as defined by the law of nations."

The case focused on a group of armed men aboard a small skiff who attacked the frigate USS Ashland April 10 in the Gulf of Aden.

As the skiff drew even with the frigate, "at least one person on defendants' skiff raised and shot a firearm at the USS Ashland," read the ruling, of which AFP obtained a copy.

The US frigate "responded by returning fire, destroying the skiff and killing one of the passengers."

Ashland crew members "observed in the burning skiff, among other things, the remains of an AK-47 style firearm. Crew members then took defendants into custody."

However "at no time did the defendants board or attempt to board the USS Ashland," Jackson said.

"For the first time since 1820, this court is faced with the task of interpreting the piracy statute as it applies to alleged conduct in international waters," the ruling said.

The six men were charged on April 23 in Norfolk along with five others accused of similar acts against another US military vessel -- the USS Nicholas off the Seychelles Islands, on the eastern coast of Africa -- which they mistook for a merchant vessel. That case is being handled by another judge in Norfolk.

While the suspects no longer face charges of piracy they still face seven charges that include assault with dangerous weapons and attacks to plunder a vessel.

earlier related report
EU boosts Somali anti-piracy efforts
Northwood, England (UPI) Aug 17, 2010 - The fight against Somali pirates by an international coalition continues.

Italy has dispatched the warship ITS Libeccio frigate to join Operation Atalanta in combating piracy off the Somali coast, the EU Naval Force Somalia said Tuesday in a news release.

The ITS Libeccio has begun patrolling in the Somali Gulf of Aden to provide escort for vessels of the World Food Program and African Union Mission in Somalia ships to guard them against piracy.

While the ITS Libeccio was initially assigned to patrol the Somali coastline to gather intelligence on potential pirate activities, the warship was subsequently reassigned to escort a WFP ship sailing from Kenya's Mombasa port to Somalia's Mogadishu and an AMISIOM cargo ship voyaging from Mombasa to Somalia's Berbera port.

The European Union's Naval Force Somalia-Operation Atalanta began a year ago to support U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1814, 1816, 1838 and 1846, passed in 2008. Operation Atalanta's mission was to protection WFP vessels delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia, protect merchantmen traversing the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast and to use all necessary measures, including force, to deter, prevent and intervene in piratical attacks, while also monitoring illegal fishery activities by foreign ships in Somali territorial waters as well as its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

Operation Atalanta, the EU's first naval operation, is being conducted under the organization's Common Security and Defense Policy. Originally scheduled to run for an initial period of 12 months, the EU council has now extended Operation Atalanta's mandate until December 2010, allowing for the deployment of up to 12 EU ships and a commensurate number of Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

After the Operation Atalanta deployment was approved in November 2009, EU member states Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Malta and Spain contributed warships to support it. Outside the EU, Norway and Ukraine are also participating. Even Montenegro announced it will send three soldiers to supplement Cypriot, Irish, Maltese and Finnish military personnel at Operation Atalanta's Northwood Headquarters in Britain.

In Operation Atalanta's most recent mission, on Tuesday a suspected pirate skiff equipped with a ladder carrying a large quantity of fuel barrels was intercepted by EU NAVFOR vessels in the eastern Gulf of Aden. The action commenced following the receipt of intelligence from a helicopter from Task Force 508 flag ship HDMS Esbern Snare. The ITS Libeccio subsequently dispatched a helicopter to intercept the skiff, firing three successive warning shots. The skiff was eventually boarded and detained by EU NAVFOR flag ship FS De Grasse.

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