A lawyer for AFP said on Friday that an Italian court has ordered the state to return a German charity ship that had been impounded in 2017 due to the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean.
The Iuventa, which is owned by the non-profit organization Jugend Rettet, was seized and left to rot while prosecutors built a case that is currently in the pre-trial phase.
Twenty-one suspects are charged with conspiring with human traffickers, including members of the Jugend Rettet, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Save the Children rescue ship crews.
Judge Samuele Corso of Trapani is currently deciding whether to move forward with the trial following a five-year probe that some have criticized as a politically motivated attempt to halt sea rescues.
Corso decided on Friday that port authorities must “take care of all maintenance work needed to get the (Iuventa) ship back to and keep it in the same condition it was in when it was seized.”
According to defense attorney Nicola Canestrini, the state will likely be out approximately 100,000 euros ($105,000).
Because the ship is in bad shape, Jugend Rettet said in a statement, “It is still unclear whether the court’s decision can be carried out at all.”
“The Iuventa saved more than 14,000 individuals from maritime distress in a single year. “More than 10,000 people have died in the central Mediterranean since its capture.” It was awful.
After reaching a high of 180,000 in 2016, the number of migrants arriving in Italy by boat from Africa to Europe fell to 120,000 in 2017.
The Interior Ministry said that so far this year, close to 97,000 people have come into the country.
