The Supreme Court in Italy issued a ruling condemning the handover of refugees and migrants who were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea to the Libyan Coast Guard.
Italian media reported that this decision constitutes a final condemnation of the captain of the private Italian ship “Aso 28,” which rescued more than 100 migrants in 2018 and then handed them over to the Libyan Coast Guard.
The judges of the Supreme Court considered that facilitating the interception of migrants and refugees by the Libyan Coast Guard falls under the crime of “abandoning minors or helpless persons in a state of danger, and arbitrarily disembarking and abandoning persons.”
In a similar context, on December 12 of last year, four Maltese organizations called on their country’s authorities to immediately stop all forms of cooperation with the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade or any other “Libyan militia” involved in human trafficking and violations.
