Trial for aiding and abetting illegal immigration: for the Court of Trapani the fact does not constitute a crime

There is no place to proceed for the 21 members of the crew of the Iuventathe vessel of the German NGO “Jugend Rettet”. Accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, they were acquitted because the act did not constitute a crime.

The story dates back to 2017 when the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office, which was investigating the rescues carried out in the waters of the Sicilian Channel by NGO ships, requested and obtained the seizure of the Iuventa, one of the boats of the German organization hypothesizing the aiding of illegal immigration. The investigators claimed to have ascertained at least three cases in which some members of the ship’s crew had had contact with Libyan migrant traffickers and intervened in rescue operations without the refugees being in real danger. The migrants would have been transferred to the NGO’s ship escorted by the Libyans.

The investigations, however, led the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office, last February 29, to request that the 21 members of the crew not proceed, who have now entrusted their comments on the matter to a note published on social media.

“Following a flawed investigation driven by political motives, thousands of people died in the Mediterranean or were forcibly returned to war-torn Libya,” the head of mission recalled Sascha Girke. “Today, as every day, European states will continue to design and implement measures to drown, push back, imprison, beat and suffocate people on the move. This is the terrifying logic of Fortress Europe, for which the Juventa represents a threat. Today we remember in particular the thousands of people on the move imprisoned in Europe for pushing for their freedom and that of their traveling companions. Today we would like above all to be closer to them, to be able to open the doors of their cells, to tell them that we feel their pain, that we hope they will soon be free. Our commitment is in the fight for freedom of movement, for the decriminalization of migratory benefits, for the strong and total fall of the walls of Fortress Europe. […] Today we will celebrate only to make ourselves stronger in the continuing struggle. No one is free until we are all free!