Sea-Watch captain free to go, says Italian judge
AN ITALIAN judge said on Tuesday that Sea-Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete was free to go, three days after her arrest for docking with 40 migrants aboard her rescue ship in defiance of an Italian ban.
The judge said an Italian security decree was “not applicable in the case of rescues” in the ruling.
“I was relieved about t he judge’s decision, which I see as a big win for solida rit y with a ll people on the move including ref ugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and against t he criminalisation of helpers in many countries across Europe,” Rackete said in a statement from SeaWatch.
“Even though the attention is on me, it was as a team that we rescued the people, took care of them and brought them to safety,” the German said, and paid tribute to the crew.
Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has taken a hard line against migrants, reacted furiously.
“This poor woman has only tried to kill five Italian soldiers. I am speechless! What do you have to do to be sent to prison in Italy?” Salvini said in a video on Facebook, promising to expel this “danger to national security” as soon as possible.
However his decision must first be cleared by the court.
Rackete, 31, had faced charges of abetting illegal immigration and forcing her way past a police vessel that tried to block the Sea-Watch 3 – the latter crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
Sea-Watch said the judge considered she had acted “in the performance of a duty”, to save lives at sea, and had no choice but to come to Italy as Libya and Tunisia could not be considered safe ports.
Rackete is also separately being investigated for assisting with illegal immigration, as is often the case when an NGO ship unloads migrants in Italy.
The case is due to be heard on July 9, and according to her lawyers she is unlikely to be deported before then.
The case has ignited a diplomatic row between Rome and Berlin amid a continuing fa i lure to coordinate migration policy within the EU.