Italian authorities have launched a criminal investigation against the captain of the private rescue vessel Sea-Watch 5. The charges brought against the captain revolve around "aiding and abetting illegal entry." The investigation follows an attack on the vessel by Libyan authorities a week ago.
The investigation comes one week after a Libyan patrol boat opened fire on the crew of the charity-run rescue vessel Sea-Watch 5, threatening to seize the ship in the Mediterranean.
At that time, the rescue boat had just saved a large group of migrants in the Libyan Search and Rescue (SAR) region in international waters; Libyan officials sought to prevent the completion of the rescue, referring to their mandate to bring migrants back to Libya.
According to eyewitnesses from Sea-Watch, there may have been an element of miscommunication involved at the time of the incident.
After the first rescue, the crew of the Sea-Watch 5 carried out a second rescue, eventually transporting 166 migrants to the port of Brindisi in Puglia, southern Italy, but on the country's east coast, so about four days of sailing from the original rescue.
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Search and rescue zones (SAR): Who's in charge?
Both the Italian government and the European Union provide funds and equipment for Libyan maritime officials to intercept migrant boats and take the migrants back to Libya.
The way the search and rescue zones (SAR) have been divided up in the Mediterranean means that Libyan officials are responsible for a large portion of the area between the North African country and Italy, including some waters designated as international. On the map, this is the portion including the Libyan capital Tripoli, that stretches from the Libyan border with Tunisia in the west of the cuntry to the Libyan border with Egypt in the east of the country and extends out beyond Libyan waters towards the next zone up which is run by Malta. The area around Italy is part of the Italian jurisdiction.
Ships carrying out rescues in this zone are required to inform the Libyan SAR authorities (JRCC) of their presence and would normally have to follow orders from that authority as to where to take anyone rescued. However, de facto what happens is that rescue ships will send a message to them but will eventually be coordinated by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center MRCC in Rome and assigned a port in Italy where they will be able to disembark the migrants rescued.
Many NGOs distrust Libyan authorities and refuse to take migrants to the North African nation amid growing reports of inhumane conditions and human rights abuses at Libya's migrant detention centers.
The Sea-Watch 5 eventually reached the port of Brindisi on May 15, where officers from the Italian coast guard and police boarded the vessel soon after its docking.
Sea-Watch said that the officials remained on board "until well past midnight, seized documents and equipment, and took two crew members to the police station for questioning."
The organization added that the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 was also due to be questioned by police.
Sea-Watch in 'shock' over charges
Giulia Messmer, spokesperson for Sea-Watch, said the charity was "stunned" following the events in Brindisi.
"After we were nearly hijacked on the high seas by Italy's Libyan partners earlier this week, the Italian state has now launched another attack in the form of a criminal investigation. We are familiar with this pattern, and we will not be intimidated by it. We know very well who is actually breaking the law here."
In a previous statement, Messmer had said that Sea-Watch had "documented more than 75 cases of extreme violence committed by Libyan militias in the Mediterranean."
The last time a criminal investigation of this kind was launched against a civilian rescue ship in Italy was in 2020.
Sea-Watch itself was subject to a criminal investigation in 2019, when Sea-Watch captain Carola Rackete decided to dock in Italy despite officials not granting her safe harbor.
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Sea-Watch: 'attack on solidarity at sea'
Sea-Watch highlights that there have been more than 20 preliminary investigations in Italy into alleged "aiding and abetting illegal entry" instances involving private rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
Most of these cases were ultimately however dismissed for lack of evidence before proceedings even began.
Sea-Watch says that the ongoing investigations "constitute a malicious attack on solidarity at sea. Search and rescue organizations have become inconvenient witnesses to the injustices committed by European governments, making them targets of state repression."
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Following an increasing amount of reports of Libyan authorities threatening private rescue vessels with violence, German authorities decided to raise the security level in the Libyan Search and Rescue SAR to "level two," which represents "heightened risk requiring additional protective measures."
German officials have acknowledged that some of the reported attacks in those waters are "with high probability" carried out by boats working for the Libyan coast guard, though Libya denies any wrongdoing.
The Sea-Watch 5 is registered in Germany.
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