Iuventa: "We risk 20 years in prison, but they won't end solidarity!"

On 21 May 2022, four crew members of the civilian search and rescue vessel Iuventa travelled to the court in Trapani, Sicily, for the first day of the preliminary hearing. At this pre-trial hearing, the court decides whether they will be charged with "aiding and abetting irregular immigration" of refugees to Italy. The four defendants of the Iuventa crew contributed to the rescue of more than 14,000 people who had made their way to Europe from Libya. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.

A total of 21 people, which include Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Iuventa, as well as a shipping company, have been charged. What is being dealt with in the court in Trapani is not only individual sea rescue operations and their backgrounds, but also and above all the ever-increasing criminalisation of solidarity and the exercise of human rights, Italy's role in restricting civil society and the potentially devastating effects of the case for people on the run. After Italy suspended the Mare Nostrum sea rescue mission in the Mediterranean in 2014, it was civil society organisations that filled the void left at sea to save the lives of refugees and migrants in distress on the central Mediterranean route - the deadliest migration route in the world.

The Iuventa was seized by Italian authorities in 2017 and has since been detained in the port of Trapani. A wide-ranging investigation has been launched. Despite the fact that tens of thousands have drowned on this deadly route to Europe, prosecutors are again arguing that the rescues were not made out of distress at sea, but that the crew cooperated with smugglers. This tendency not only limits the civil space for the defence of human rights, but also has far-reaching consequences for the work of civil society organisations in general. Search and rescue organisations are repeatedly targeted by a systematic campaign of repression and criminalisation. In addition, improper investigative practices - such as illegal wiretapping of journalists and lawyers - are a cause for concern. To ensure that the process is fair and transparent, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Amnesty International, Giuristi Democratici, Democratic Lawyers of Switzerland and the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights have requested to participate in the hearings.

A press conference was organised by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Amnesty International, borderline-europe, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights, Giuristi Democratici and Democratic Lawyers of Switzerland on 17 May. The video of the press conference is available here.

On the eve of the first day of the trial, Arci Porco Rosso and activists in Palermo invited people to an anti-fascist gathering in solidarity with the crew of the Iuventa.
The meeting on 20 May was an opportunity to talk about the struggle against solidarity that many governments are waging against activists.

On 21 May, on the other hand, we stood in front of the Trapani court to express our full solidarity with the friends of the crew of the ship "Iuventa" and those of the other rescue ships that are currently on trial.
We gathered on the street that connects the court and the port. In the background you can see the Iuventa, which has now been stuck there since August 2017 and is no longer seaworthy.

Defend human rights and freedom of movement!
Stop the criminalisation of migration!
Freedom for the Iuventa!

Timeline:

21.05.22 Pre-trial in Trapani: After 5 years of investigation, the Trapani court opens the pre-trial to decide whether the case will go to trial or not. The request of the lawyers and the defendants to open the pre-trial to the public, and thus to independent observers of the trial, was approved by the judge but rejected by the prosecution for the now. The hearing revealed that there were procedural errors in the investigation, which the prosecution will have to correct or clarify in the coming weeks. The next hearing will take place on 05.07.22 in the presence of the accused.

16.06.22: Due to procedural errors by the public prosecutor's office in relation to a lack of information for the defendants and the associated violations of fundamental rights, the proceedings were suspended until next fall.

29.10.22: The trial against four crew members of the iuventa and 17 other defendants charged with “aiding and abetting unauthorised immigration” was suspended due to procedural errors by the prosecution. The judge rejected the prosecution’s claim that the procedural errors could be ignored.

31.10.22: 5 Years after the seizure of the iuventa ship, the trial was adjourned for the second time last Saturday, 29 October 2022, again due to mistakes by the prosecution. A subsequent voluntary questioning by the police of one of the iuventa defendants had to be aborted after minutes due to insufficient interpretation. The iuventa defendants asked to exercise their right to be interrogated voluntarily by the authorities.

12.11.22: Trapani, November 12, 2022. In the largest court case against crew members of civilian sea rescue, since five years there is not only no sufficient evidence to justify the seizure of a rescue ship, let alone the threat of 20 years prison sentences. This criminal proceeding also lacks the basic principles of a fair trial.

03.12.22: International observers were admitted to the trial against iuventa and were allowed to participate in the proceedings for the first time, which, according to the defense attorney, can be helpful for a fairer trial. There is still no further progress in the trial due to procedural errors and the failure of the prosecution to guarantee a fair trial according to the standards.

19.12.22: Following a request by Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Italian state now wants to be admitted as a civil plaintiff in the trial against Iuventa. This demonstrates the political motivation of the trial, which remains at the preliminary hearing stage.

10.02.23: Trapani, February 10, 2023: In a ten-hour trial at the Court of Trapani, the objection of the IUVENTA lawyers for insufficient interpretation during the interrogations was finally rejected by the judge. Although it was acknowledged that many mistakes were made, these were considered only as "irregularities" and would not interfere with the general fainess of the trial. Through this decision, the judge also opposed the opinion of the court-appointed experts, who declared the interpreters provided by the court to be unsuitable. The application of the Ministry of Interior and the Prime Minister's Office were also discussed, but since they contained serious errors, they were declared inadmissible. A government representative had to apologize for these errors in court. The judge's final decision on the government's participation will be announced at the next hearing on February 25, 2023.

12.02.2023: The iuventa crew filed a criminal complaint to the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office for the abandonment and consequent contribution to destruction of the iuventa rescue ship.

25.02.2023: There was a preliminary trial where the court rejected the request of the Prime Minister’s Office to participate in the trial; on the contrary, the Ministry of Interior was formally admitted as a third party, but still without addressing the substance of its claims.

01.03.2023: During the preliminary hearing of this day, the iuventa defendans intervened in commemoration of the victims of the tragic shipwreck in Crotone. Afterwards, the prosecution sought to defend Italian jurisdiction and its territorial competence. The judge’s decision on the exceptions raised by the defence is scheduled on 15 March 2023.

15.03.2023: While the court confirmed Italy’s jurisdiction over sea rescue operations conducted in international waters, it is currently still not completely clear whether the prosecution in Trapani even has the competence over the whole case. However, the court abstained from ruling and instead decided to refer the matter to Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, for clarification. Although this fundamental question remains open until the decision of the highest court, the trial in Trapani will continue on March 24.

12.05.2023: The lawyers of the Iuventa crew have filed a motion that could radically change the course of the trial. Lawyers Francesca Cancellaro, Alessandro Gamberini and Nicola Canestrini are asking the judge in Trapani to have the constitutional legitimacy of Article 12 of the Migration Law reviewed before the Constitutional Court. The ambiguous and complex wording of Article 12 is the reason for many accusations made over the years against activists - from NGO ship crews to Baobab members or helpers of transit passengers in Ventimiglia and Trieste - and migrants. At the same time, they are pushing for a provisional referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the "Facilitators Package", i.e. the set of EU rules that regulates the same issue at the EU level.