Tuesday, October 21st, saw six members of an Italian charity which claims to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean go on trial in Sicily, accused of aiding illegal immigration.
The case centres around the Mare Jonio, a ship operated by Mediterranea Saving Humans (MSH), which took 27 migrants off a giant tanker in 2020 and brought them to Italy. The group 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 charity 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 ($145,000) payment from Maersk to MSH months after the event. Maersk denies this, stating 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 stressed.
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 calls the trial in Ragusa 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. The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in 2022, vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.
Defence lawyer Fabio Lanfranca announced that the team raised a series of technical objections at the first hearing on October 21st. 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 is scheduled for January 13th.
