"Pirates were the lords and masters of boat," skipper recalls

Ricardo Blach, the skipper of the Alakrana, the Galician fishing vessel hijacked and held for 47 days by pirates in the Indian Ocean in 2009, yesterday testified in the High Court in the presence of two of his suspected captors, Abdu Willy and Raageggesey Adji Haman.

"They boarded us firing shots and made us lie face down... they gave me a terrible beating. It was a terrible night of violence. We feared for our lives."

Blach identified Willy and Raageggesey, seated behind him, to the judge. "They were the lords and masters of the boat," he said.

Blach also related how the pirates held guns to crewmembers' heads when they were permitted to call their families. The skipper used the final call he was allowed to contact the frigate Canarias and reproach it for announcing the capture of Willy and Raageggesey, who were detained off the Somali coast as they tried to flee the Alakrana.

Willy and Raageggesey testified on Thursday morning. The two men claim they were also hostages on the Alakrana and had been forced to join the boarding party against their will. "Once on board the pirates forced us to take up weapons," Willy said. "I feel like a victim in this case," he concluded.

Raageggesey also maintains that he was forced into the hijack and that once in Spain the police made him call the pirates' leader. "I asked him not to hurt anyone and to let the Spaniards go."

The most sinister part of Blach's testimony concerned the fate of the Ariana, another hijacked vessel nearby. Three men were removed from the Alakrana as bargaining chips and a 16-year-old pirate boasted of how he intended to rape hostages on the Ariana. "He returned very satisfied [with himself]. It was horrible."

The pirates were nervous, Blach related ? "they thought a cloud was an airplane" ? but cruel in equal measure. "They didn't let me go to the bathroom for 18 days." One of the pirates took pity on Blach and brought him a change of clothes. "He was more talkative because he liked Real Madrid."

The prosecutor is seeking jail terms of 220 years for both suspects on 36 counts of illegal detention ? one for each of the hostages ? and robbery with violence, as well as compensation for each crew member of 100,000 euros.