The German NGO-run ship "Sea-Eye 4", involved in migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean between Italy and Libya, departed on May 14 from the port of Taranto for a new mission after being seized for 60 days by Italian authorities, according to a statement issued by the organization based in Regensburg.

The NGO stressed that the administrative detention was "the longest ever imposed on a rescue ship, in compliance with the so-called Piantedosi decree" under which humanitarian rescue ships can be impounded and fined if they don't head to a port assigned by Italian authorities immediately after just one rescue mission.

'Politically motivated measure', says president of Sea-Eye

Sea-Eye appealed the measure and the charges that led to the seizure, which alleged that the ship's crew "did not follow instructions from the so-called Libyan coast guard." These charges were deemed groundless, although "a final decision on the main judicial proceeding is still pending."

"The fact that the judge considers the allegations that led to the seizure to be groundless shows that this is a politically motivated measure without a legal basis", the president of Sea-Eye, Gorden Isler, was quoted as saying in the statement.

"In spite of all the difficulties created by the Italian government's policies, we are continuing to fulfill our humanitarian responsibilities, especially thanks to the concrete support that we receive daily from private and institutional donors, as well as volunteers, ground personnel and crew members", he added.

Also read: International law and the criminalization of sea rescue

The allegations after the closure of the Iuventa case

Last month, the case of the Iuventa ship concluded after a seven-year-long investigation, with the acquittal of 10 crew members working for three NGOs who were charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration. Iuventa was the first migrant rescue vessel seized in 2017 by then-interior minister Marco Minniti, Sea-Eye recalled in a statement published after the verdict.

"The allegations according to which rescuers were cooperating with traffickers were also repeated by Thomas de Maizière, then-interior minister of Germany", stressed Isler.

"This lie was exclusively based on a criminalization campaign waged by Italian authorities. It caused great damage to rescue organizations", continued the president, stating that "it is necessary to finally end the campaigns of criminalization against rescuers."

Sea-Eye said it was a "judicial scandal" that Iuventa operators "had to be tried in court for the many years of duty, enshrined in international law, during which they saved human lives at sea".

Isler said the trial which ended with the defendants' acquittal was a "political case aimed at slandering the entire operation of civil sea rescue operations and to discourage rescuers from intervening."

Also read: Migrant rescuers seek vindication after lengthy Italy case