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Giuseppe Sotgiu was found guilty of crimes against international laws, which prohibit forcing people to return to countries in danger.
In the first such case before an Italian court, a captain rescued 101 migrants in the Mediterranean and handed them over to the Libyan Coast Guard, where he was sentenced to one year in prison.
Giuseppe Sotgiu was convicted of crimes against international laws, which prohibit forcing people to return to countries in danger.
At the time of the rescue on July 30, 2018, he was driving Asso 28, an offshore oil platform flying the Italian flag, to provide an oil platform for Libya. The migrants-including five pregnant women and five minors-were rescued from an unseaworthy boat in international waters and handed over to the Libyan Coast Guard at the port of Tripoli.
The international organization engaged in the rescue operation told Al Jazeera that although this was a “step in the right direction,” the sentence punished one person and ignored the responsibilities of Libya and EU countries.
“If you condemn a person for handing over immigrants to [the Libyan coastguard], You are questioning the legitimacy of this power,” Giorgia Linaldi, a spokeswoman for the German NGO Ocean Observatory in Italy, told Al Jazeera.
Italy and the European Union specifically fund and train the Libyan Coast Guard to stop the flow of migrants. July, members Observation and shooting at sea The Libyan maritime authorities chased a crowded migrant ship and fired in its direction, apparently to prevent it from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
Linaldi praised the verdict for emphasizing the principle that the deportation of migrants to Libya is a crime, but pointed out that the same principle does not apply to European countries that cooperate with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
The court now has 90 days to publish its ruling, which will provide more information about the chain of command that guided Sotgiu’s decision to bring migrants back to Libya.
The verdict is unlikely to result in actual imprisonment of the captain, who can appeal the conviction.
“It is important to emphasize the responsibility of the captain, but the person who gives the order should also be punished,” Linaldi said.
Augusta Offshore, the owner of Asso 28, claimed at the time that the rescue was coordinated by officials of the Libyan Coast Guard and the maritime department of the Libyan coastal city of Sabratha.
Italian prosecutors stated that they could not find a trace of the maritime department in Sabratha, and there was no evidence that the maritime rescue coordination office in Italy or Libya had been alerted.
It is not clear whether the Italian Coast Guard was involved in directing Sotgiu’s operations.
The Italian rescue operation Mare Nostrum was closed in 2014 and has not been replaced. The Italian Coast Guard sometimes asks private boats to help immigrants in distress.
Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) also praised Thursday’s ruling as a positive step, while at the same time, non-governmental organizations that rescue migrants at sea are under scrutiny.
Earlier this year, Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières, and the German organization Jugend Rettet were under investigation for allegedly assisting illegal immigrants. Médecins Sans Frontières described this as one of a series of attempts to criminalize rescue at sea.
Flac Osig, MSF’s search and rescue representative, told Al Jazeera that people must realize that “Libya is not a place where people can return safely.”
Osig said that she hopes the ruling will allow NGOs to freely carry out rescue missions in the future.
Osig said: “European countries must recognize this sentence and recognize that the deportation of immigrants to Libya is an act of deportation and a crime under international law.”
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