The criminal proceedings against members of the crew of the NGOs Jugend Rettet, Save The Children and Doctors Without Borders
have ended, after 7 years, with the ruling of no place to prosecute
the 10 defendants accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration
. . The humanitarian organizations were accused by the Trapani prosecutors of having made agreements with human traffickers and of not having actually provided assistance to the refugees but of having acted as "taxis" for them, transferring them from Libyan ships which they would then have allowed to go back undisturbed.
The judge who issued the sentence with the formula because the fact does not exist is Samuel Corso. The refusal to proceed had been requested by the Trapani Public Prosecutor's Office after an investigation costing around 3 million euros. The Ministry of the Interior was a civil party in the proceedings and deferred to the preliminary hearing judge's decision. The prosecutors had also ordered the seizure
of the Iuventa vessel
of the NGO Jugend Rettet, one of the three humanitarian organizations involved. The ship has meanwhile suffered enormous damage and is unusable.
"This decision, which comes at the end of a legal case that lasted almost seven years, recognizes the truth about our work and our humanitarian commitment to saving lives at sea." This was stated by Daniela Fatarella, General Director of Save the Children, commenting on the Judge's decision.
"Save the Children - he added - has always been confident in the positive conclusion of this matter, in full awareness that the members of the organization have always operated legally, in order to save lives at sea, responding to their humanitarian mandate and with the primary objective of protecting vulnerable subjects, such as unaccompanied minors and women potentially victims of trafficking and exploitation". "In the years in which the search and rescue mission in the central Mediterranean was active, 2016 and 2017, Save the Children saved almost 10,000 people who were exposed to the risk of drowning at sea. Among them were around 1,500 children , many of whom were separated from their families, who we kept safe and protected until they reached safe harbor. We are extremely proud of all of this. We are very pleased with the outcome of the preliminary hearing and thank all our supporters , even during these years, have continued to believe in the values of our Organization", concluded Daniela Fatarella.
"During the hearing it was possible to illustrate and bring to the attention of the Judge all the elements of evidence which - added the lawyer Jean-Paule Castagno - categorically denied every accusation, as clarified by the request for non-proceeding formulated The commendable professionalism and dedication with which all the organization's staff, and in particular the team leader responsible for the mission, operated for the entire duration of the mission also emerged from the prosecutors.