On 1 March 2021, an Italian prosecutor in Trapani closed a lengthy investigation into the work of civil rescuers in the Mediterranean Sea. Charged with “aiding and abetting illegal immigration to Italy”, 21 members of the charities Jugend Rettet, Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders face trial. Among them are members of the civil rescue ship, Iuventa, who have helped rescue more than 14,000 people in distress. The crew, known as the ‘Iuventa10’, have been under investigation since August 2017, following the seizure of the ship at the port of Lampedusa. If found guilty, they could face considerable time in prison.
The allegations against the maritime activists rest in part on evidence collected by a secret recording device placed on the Iuventa, wiretapped phones, as well as statements of employees of a private security company who had been employed as security guards on another civil rescue ship, the Vos Hestia, chartered by Save the Children. Pietro Gallo, one of the private security agents who passed information on to AISE, the Italian intelligence service, and to Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-Right Lega party, later regretted his involvement and suggested that the allegations against the rescuers were unfounded. The Italian prosecutor’s case is also informed by an undercover police officer installed among the private security guards on the Vos Hestia.
The Iuventa10, who have received international recognition and human rights awards for their life-saving work, deny all allegations of collaboration with smugglers. They regard the investigation in Italy as an act of ‘lawfare’, the misuse of existing laws to further Europe’s anti-migrant policies and to criminalise and intimidate humanitarian rescuers. In a statement, the activists claim the charges are “a political declaration of intent to criminalise solidarity”. As one of Iuventa10’s lawyers told me, “Instead of sea rescuers being charged for saving lives, Italian and European politicians should be charged with crimes against humanity. It is really the world upside down, and we will make it right.”
Fighting lawfare
The Italian investigation, which lasted for nearly four years, has focused on two dates, 10 September 2016 and 18 June 2017, during which the Iuventa10 allegedly became implicated in “aiding and abetting illegal immigration”. After reconstructing the events unfolding on these days, the research collective Forensic Oceanography at Goldsmiths University concluded that none of the allegations levied against the rescuers had legs to stand on.
Laura Martin, a now 27-year-old from Manchester, was on board the Iuventa in June 2017. Wanting no part in what she called “the cold-hearted Europe that treats people on the move as less than human”, she joined Iuventa’s rescue operation off the coast of Libya – in what she described as “a practical middle finger to the lack of state support for those on the move”. She said: “We see these people, we see their deaths. They are real people, dying real deaths, and if you don’t give them the support they need then we will try, and we will be loud.”
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Maurice Stierl | Radio Free (2021-03-16T16:35:26+00:00) Lawfare on solidarity at sea: The Mediterranean rescuers facing trial. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/03/16/lawfare-on-solidarity-at-sea-the-mediterranean-rescuers-facing-trial/
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