The maxi-investigation started by the Trapani prosecutor’s office in 2016 falls. The Judge for the preliminary hearing of the Court of Trapani, in fact, ordered that proceedings against all the defendants should not proceed and definitively closed the case by decreeing that it was unfounded. of the accusations and sweeping away any suspicion of collaboration with traffickers on the part of humanitarian organizations involved in rescue at sea.
The investigation involved several NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Organization which, immediately after the judges’ decision, stated: “After seven years of false accusations, defamatory slogans and a blatant campaign of criminalization of the organizations involved in rescue at sea, the maxi-investigation started by the Trapani prosecutor’s office in the autumn falls of 2016, the first of the sad era of propaganda that transformed rescuers into ‘sea taxis’ and ‘friends of traffickers’”.
The investigation, continues MSF, involved the NGOs with “the inadmissible accusation of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, saw a mammoth accusatory system based on allegations, wiretaps, false testimonies and a deliberately distorted interpretation of the rescue mechanisms to present them as criminal acts. But after an in-depth preliminary hearing that lasted two years and after the same prosecutor’s office that had opened the investigation asked not to proceed, the judge definitively closed the case, decreeing that the accusations were unfounded and sweeping away any suspicion of collaboration. with traffickers.”
“The castle of unfounded accusations that for over seven years have deliberately tarnished the work and credibility of humanitarian ships to remove them from the Mediterranean and stop their rescue and reporting action is collapsing – declares Christos Christou, international president of MSF -. But the attacks on solidarity continue through a series of other actions: restrictive decrees, detention of civilian ships, support for the Libyan coast guard which dangerously hinders rescue efforts and fuels suffering and violations, while deaths at sea continue to increase.”
According to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights there are at least 63 legal or administrative proceedings initiated by European states against organizations involved at sea (June 2023 data).
Over the last year, Italian authorities have issued 21 administrative stops against humanitarian ships, impeding their life-saving action for a total of 460 days. The MSF Geo Barents has just set sail again after 20 days of detention, “with the hypocritical accusation of having endangered people’s lives, after a Libyan patrol boat had violently interrupted a rescue that had already begun. Furthermore, civilian ships are now assigned distant ports to disembark survivors, to keep them away from the rescue area.”
“All this – continues MSF -, together with cynical border externalization policies initiated by the Italian and European authorities, has delegitimized the principle of rescue and the very idea of solidarity, canceled the humanitarian imperative under the logic of border defense, and drastically reduced the possibility of rescue. The consequences are deadly: 2023 was the year with the highest number of deaths at sea since the accusations were made.”
“In recent years, all successive governments have invested enormous resources in boycotting humanitarian action and on death policies, but have done nothing to stop shipwrecks and provide legal and safe routes to those fleeing across the Mediterranean – declares Tommaso Fabbri, MSF head of mission at the time of the events, involved in the case -. Saving lives is not a crime, it is a moral and legal obligation, a fundamental act of humanity that simply must be done. Stop criminalizing solidarity! All efforts must go into stopping the unacceptable deaths and suffering and guaranteeing the right to rescue, bringing humanity and the right to life back to our sea.”.
MSF is an independent international medical-humanitarian organization that provides assistance to people affected by wars, epidemics, natural disasters and crisis situations in over 70 countries, including Italy. It began rescue operations at sea in 2015 to make up for the void left by the closure of Mare Nostrum and with eight ships it contributed to the rescue of over 92,000 people without ever stopping its activities. MSF teams are still engaged in rescue operations with the Geo Barents ship.
“Our thoughts go to our colleagues from MSF and other organizations who have lived under the weight of accusations for having legitimately carried out their work: rescuing people in danger, in full transparency and in compliance with the law – concludes Monica Minardi, president of MSsf in Italy -. Our workers have never stopped operating in MSF interventions around the world, just as our ships have never stopped saving lives at sea. This was our best response to all the accusations.”.
Save the Children: “The truth about humanitarian commitment recognized”
“This decision, which comes at the end of a judicial case that lasted almost seven years, recognizes the truth about our work and our humanitarian commitment to saving lives at sea”he has declared Daniela Fatarella, general director of Save the Childrencommenting on the Judge’s decision.
“Save the Children – he continues – has always been confident in the positive conclusion of this matter, in full awareness that the members of the Organization have always operated legally, in order to save lives at sea, responding to their humanitarian mandate and with the primary objective of protecting vulnerable subjects, such as unaccompanied minors and women potentially victims of trafficking and exploitation”.
The outcome of this preliminary hearing comes after years, during which Save the Children has continued to trust in the work of the judiciary, making itself available to provide every useful element for the reconstruction of the facts, so that the truth could emerge. At the same time, the Organization has strengthened its commitment on Italian territory in the reception and inclusion of migrant minors. The organisation’s lawyers, the lawyer. Jean Paule Castagno and the lawyer. Andrea Alfonso Stigliano of Studio Orrick in Milan, have carried out a proactive and meticulous defensive activity, highlighting a series of decisive elements so that the Prosecutor’s Office itself could re-evaluate its position, so much so that it itself requested a ruling of no place to proceed.
Save the Children’s activity has always been carried out in full compliance with Italian law, in agreement with IMRCC, through continuous support and coordination with all the institutional actors involved, the territorial prefectures and the police authorities present in the ports of disembarkation and in continuity with the multiple activities carried out by the Organization to protect the rights of migrant minors, also in collaboration and support with the Authorities, since 2008.
“In the years in which the search and rescue mission in the central Mediterranean was active, 2016 and 2017, Save the Children has saved almost 10,000 people who were at risk of drowning at sea. Among them were approximately 1,500 children, many of whom were separated from their families, whom we kept safe and protected until they reached safe harbor. We are extremely proud of all this. We are very satisfied with the outcome of the preliminary hearing and we thank all our supporters who, even during these years, have continued to believe in the values of our Organization”, concluded Daniela Fatarella.
“During the hearing, it was possible to illustrate and bring to the Judge’s attention all the evidence which categorically denied every accusation, as clarified by the request for non-proceeding formulated by the public prosecutors. What also emerged was the commendable professionalism and dedication with which all the Organization’s staff, and in particular the team leader responsible for the mission, operated for the entire duration of the mission”, declared the lawyer. Jean-Paule Castagno.
Tags: Migrants sea taxis friends traffickers Court Trapani acquits NGOs Facts Defense People
