Boat captain could go to jail to avoid drowning

Pia Klemp is a 36-year-old German boat biologist. She faces a 20-year prison sentence and a fine for rescuing more than 1,000 migrants as they cross the Mediterranean. Klemp confirmed this accusation in an interview with the newspaper Basler Zeitung.

She will be tried after she and some of her compatriots have been accused in Sicily of helping immigrants in danger of death. Klemp is under investigation in Italy since his ship, Iuventa, was confiscated in the summer of 2017 and the government banned him from sailing on Italian shores.

According to the German public broadcaster WDR, thanks to work on this ship and Sea-Watch 3, Klemp personally helped to rescue more than a thousand people at risk of drowning in dangerous boats while trying to cross the European border. life

Klemp said that he intended to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Nearly 60,000 people signed a petition asking Italy to drop criminal proceedings against the German captain and other crew members who had rescued thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean .