Criminal Code (Cap. 9)
Criminal Code (Cap. 9), article 328N
328N. (1) For the purposes of this subtitle "piracy" means any
of the following acts:
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of
depredation, committed for pr ivate ends by the crew or
passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and
directed:
(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft,
or against persons or property on board such
ship or aircraft;
(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a
place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) any of the acts referred to in paragraph ( a) committed
by the crew or passengers of a warship, government
ship or government aircraf t whose crew has mutinied
and taken control of t he ship or aircraft;
(c) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a
ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it
a pirate ship or aircraft;
(d) any act of inciting or of knowingly facilitating an act
described in paragraph ( a) or ( b) or ( c).
(2) For the purposes of this Title, a ship or aircraft is
considered a pirate ship or aircraft if it is intended by the p ersons in
dominant control to be used for the purpose of committing one o f
the acts referred to in sub-articl e (1) or if the ship or aircr aft has
been used to commit any such act and the ship or aircraft remai ns
under the control of the person guilty of that act.
(3) Any person guilty of piracy under this article shall be
liable:
(a) where the offence consists in any of the acts referred to
in sub-article (1)( a) and ( b) when accompanied with
the loss of life of any person, to the punishment of
imprisonment for life;
(b) where the offence consists in any of the acts referred to
in (1)( a) and ( b) when not accompanied with the loss
of life of any person, to the punishment of
imprisonment not exceeding thirty years;
(c) where the offence consists in any act referred to in
sub-article (1)( c), to the punishment of imprisonment
for a term not exceeding eight years;
(d) where the offence consists in any act referred to in
sub-article (1)( d), to the punishment laid down for the
act incited or facilitated.
Jurisdiction.
Added by:
XI.2009.7.
Amended by:
VIII.2015.21.
Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.