‘It is never a crime to save lives’, Lifeline captain defiant in the dock
MV Lifeline rescue vessel captain Claus-Peter Reisch yesterday told the court defiantly that “it is never a crime to save lives.” Reisch was back in court yesterday facing charges of improper ship registration after he brought 233 rescued migrants to shore in Malta last week.
The 57-year-old Munich native has been charged with entering Maltese territorial waters illegally and without proper registration and licence. The prosecuting officers are also requesting the court to order the confiscation of the ship.
Taking the stand yesterday and giving a brief comment, Reisch was polite in demeanour, saying he hoped that the case would not be prolonged too much because even though Malta is a very nice island, he would like to return home for his elderly mother’s birthday in the coming days.
The lawyer defending the captain accused of violating maritime law last week said after yesterday’s sitting that “most of the witnesses in our opinion were irrelevant to the case.”
Cedric Mifsud outside the courthouse told the media that the only witness of note was the registrar of ships for Transport Malta, who stated that he had corresponded with the Dutch authorities who told him that the vessel is stateless and therefore not validly registered under the Dutch flag.
Such a statement is “very strange,” said Mifsud, as there was documentation issued by Dutch authorities which shows that the vessel was known and was “in one way or another registered by the Dutch authorities.”
Although the testimony was given by the registrar, it was simply based on what the Dutch authorities had said and it is “not of much relevance” as the evidence is not “the best” that can be received in criminal proceedings, Mifsud told the media. He hoped that the prosecution would call the Dutch authorities to testify themselves, as the defence had a number of “very interesting questions” to ask them.
Neil Falzon, another legal representative for the captain, said that they were “very concerned” with the recent government decision to close Maltese ports to humanitarian vessels, including the decision yesterday to prohibit a plane owned by an NGO from leaving the island.
Falzon said that recent figures had shown a spike in deaths at sea, and that this may be linked primarily to the fact that there were no NGO boats out rescuing “people fleeing war and persecution.”
Yesterday’s sitting came as the first group of African migrants who arrived in Malta on the MV Lifeline left the island for France. Outside the court building, protesters turned up with body bags to protest at the government’s decision to close the ports to NGO ships pending the investigation into the Lifeline.
The Lifeline was at the centre of an international controversy in the last few weeks after both Malta and Italy refused to allow it to dock and take responsibility for the migrants onboard.
The stalemate was eventually broken after eight EU countries and Malta entered into an ad hoc agreement to take a share of the migrants on board. The ship then docked in Malta on Wednesday last week.