Migrants, the case of the Iuventa ship ends after 7 years: all acquitted

Migrants, the case of the Iuventa ship ends after 7 years: all acquitted

All acquitted at the end of proceedings that lasted 7 years. The Trapani court pronounced a no-proceeding sentence for the crew of the Iuventa ship and the operators of the NGOs Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children who were on board with them. No aiding of illegal immigration for the crew of the Iuventa ship, operated by the NGO Jugend Rettet.

The humanitarian organizations were accused by the Trapani prosecutors of having made agreements with human traffickers, transshipping them from Libyan ships. Accusations always denied by the NGOs involved.

According to the preliminary hearing judge, the fact does not exist: that is, the elements to carry out the investigation were missing. A different position from that supported more recently by the public prosecution, which had given up on carrying out criminal proceedings, underlining that the suspects had acted for reasons of solidarity.

“The acquittal formula says that there was nothing, the material conduct was missing,” commented the lawyer Alessandro Gamberini, lawyer for the NGO Jugen Rettet. “The material facts have not been proven and were not demonstrable as we argued with requests for dismissal to the Prosecutor's Office. This process is one of the origins of evil, of the defamation of NGOs often called accomplices of traffickers,” she added.

The proceedings initiated by the Trapani prosecutor's office had also led to the seizure of the ship. The vessel, which is estimated to have saved 14,000 people in the years it was active, is now unusable.

“After seven years of false accusations, defamatory slogans and a blatant campaign of criminalization of the organizations involved in sea rescue, the maxi-investigation launched by the Trapani prosecutor's office in the autumn of 2016 falls, the first of the sad era of propaganda that transformed rescuers in 'sea taxis' and 'friends of traffickers', declared Doctors Without Borders.

“This decision, which comes at the end of a legal case that lasted almost seven years, recognizes the truth about our work and our humanitarian commitment to saving lives at sea”, the words of Daniela Fatarella, general director of Save the Children.

According to Elly Schlein, it was a “historic ruling”. “This shows that helping is an obligation and that, as we have always said, solidarity is not a crime,” said the secretary of the Democratic Party. “The humanitarian organizations involved in rescue operations at sea must be thanked and not criminalised, because they make up for the lack of a European search and rescue mission at sea for which the Democratic Party will continue to fight: essentially they do what states should do and the European Union,” he added. “Let's hope no one ever dares to call them sea taxis again.”