Ten Vietnamese sailors who had been brought to court in South Africa on kidnapping and piracy charges were released on June 19 after a local court declared them not guilty.

The sailors were working on the Taiwanese trawler Belina. Unable to bear the extremely harsh working conditions and ill treatment they were receiving, they reacted to demand that they are allowed to return home.

They were then arrested by South Africa ’s special forces after the trawler Belina, operating off the African country’s coast, sent emergency signals.

Before the June 19 trial, the Belina trawler’s owner withdrew complaints against the seamen and pledged to provide money for them to go back to Vietnam .

Thee sailors are scheduled to leave South Africa on June 20 and arrive in the home country on June 22./.