The captain defends his rescue in court …

The captain of the humanitarian ship Sea-Watch 3, Carola Rackete, who forcibly robbed Italy to disembark 40 migrants rescued at sea, defended her actions in a court of that country facing charges of favoring the country. ;illegal immigration.

"I was very pleased to have the opportunity to explain in detail the rescue operation we conducted on June 12," said the German captain, aged 31. years, leaving the courthouse of Agrigento, in Sicily (south).

"I sincerely hope that both the European Commission and the newly elected Parliament will do their utmost to prevent this situation from happening again and hope that all European countries will work together to divide all the people saved by the civilian fleet, "he added.

The hearing, which had to be postponed for 10 days due to a criminal lawyers' strike, lasted less than two hours.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the court to show their solidarity with many signs of support for the young German woman have become an emblem against the anti-migration policy of the Italian coalition government formed by the anti-system of the Movement. 5 Stars and La Liga of the far right.

Rackete, very experienced as a captain navigating between glaciers, spent three days under house arrest at the beginning of July for having entered Italian waters despite the veto imposed by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini.

An Italian judge subsequently canceled her detention, claiming that she had acted to save lives, but that she was still under investigation for resistance to an officer and helper. to illegal immigration.

The Agrigento prosecutor's office has appealed this decision and hopes to create a legal precedent so that the case does not happen again.

Meanwhile, Sea-Watch 3 is held in the Sicilian port of Licata and the captain will have to explain why she rescued the migrants without waiting for the Libyan coast guards responsible for these operations in this sector of the Mediterranean.

For nearly two years, humanitarian ships have been systematically subjected to judicial investigations to prevent them from rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

In March 2017, the Spanish humanitarian ship "Open Arms" was put in receivership and two officials were prosecuted for refusing to hand over the migrants to the Libyan coast guards who arrived at the scene during the rescue.

A judge lifted the kidnapping after a month, alleging that Libya was not a safe country to land migrants fleeing war and hunger. The prosecutor's office of Catania has filed the case.

The same thing happened for the NGO Sea-Watch after a rescue operation in January and the court concluded that the crew's decisions were justified because they avoided taking them to Libya or Tunisia.

At the end of June, Salvini's war against migrant rescue NGOs intensified and the decision to arrest the young captain led to a mbadive movement of solidarity with her on the Internet, collecting more than one person. million euros for the trial. . The events even provoked the tension of relations between Italy and Germany.

Catalonia voted unanimously Tuesday to award a prize to the young captain, while the city of Paris announced a donation of 100,000 euros to the NGO and a medal to Carola Rackete.

The announcement of Paris provoked the wrath of the Italian far right, who recalled that the French government had not spoken during the 15 days that the young captain had sailed without goal with the 40 migrants saved.

For Salvini, they are "accomplices of human traffickers" organizations and described the sober Carola Rackete as "criminal", "problematic", "rich and spoiled", "ready to kill five Italian soldiers ".

The young woman sued the minister for defamation and incitement to the offense, pointing out that every message of Salvini's hatred on social networks was provoking a series of badist, violent and threatening insults.