Six members of an Italian charity that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean went on trial in Sicily on Tuesday, accused of aiding illegal immigration.
The defendants were involved with the Mare Jonio, a ship operated by Mediterranea Saving Humans (MSH) that took 27 migrants from a tanker vessel in 2020 and brought them to Italy.
The migrants had been stranded on the Danish tanker Maersk Etienne for over a month, with both Italy and Malta refusing to accept them.
The defendants include the charity’s co-founder Luca Casarini, the ship’s captain and three crew members, including a doctor.
Prosecutors allege the rescue was financially motivated, pointing to a 125,000-euro ($145,000) payment from Maersk to MSH months after the event.
The charity labelled the allegation of a profit motive “slanderous” and accused the prosecutors office in Ragusa of “unleashing a full-blown smear campaign”.
“For us, this will be an opportunity to re-establish the full truth and legitimacy of what happened,” MSH said in a statement after the opening of the trial.
– ‘Dire’ situation –
Maersk said in 2021 that the money had been intended to “cover some of the costs” the rescue charity endured.
“At no point” was financial compensation discussed during the operation, it added.
Maersk also praised MSH for coming to the rescue, saying the tanker’s repeated calls for assistance had been ignored by authorities and the situation on board had become “dire from a humanitarian point of view”.
MSH describes the payment as a “transparent donation”.
The defence team says the trial in Ragusa is the first of its kind in Italy.
Previous attempts to prosecute crew members of rescue vessels have all petered out either before or during preliminary hearings.
Defence lawyer Fabio Lanfranca told AFP the team raised a series of technical objections at the first hearing on Tuesday.
These mainly concerned the use of wiretaps of conversations involving “lawyers, journalists, bishops and even members of parliament”.
Fellow lawyer Serena Romano said they also questioned whether providing medical assistance could be defined as criminal.
The next hearing was set for January 13.
The hard-right government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in 2022 vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
It has repeatedly clashed with rescue charities.
Despite admitting that charity rescue boats pick up only a small minority of arrivals, Rome has characterised them as a “pull factor” and has passed laws that work to reduce the time they spend at sea.
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© Agence France-Presse
