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17 January 2020 It was legitimate that the gip of Agrigento refused to arrest the commander of the Sea Watch, Carola Rackete. The third penal section of the Cassation, after a council chamber held yesterday, rejected the appeal presented last summer by the chief prosecutor of Agrigento Luigi Patronaggio and the adjunct Salvatore Vella against the order, signed on July 2 by the investigating judge Alessandra Vella who decided not to validate the arrest of Rackete, excluding the crime of resistance and violence on the warship, which had been contested to the captain for having, on June 29, forced the checkpoint of the Guardia di Finanza, in Lampedusa, which he had repeatedly ordered the alt.

During the maneuver the patrol boat had been hit by the boat of the German NGO. The investigating magistrate believed that the crime of resistance to public officials had been justified by a "discriminant" linked to having acted "to fulfill a duty", that of saving human lives at sea. With the magistrate's ruling, therefore, the measure of house arrest decided by the prosecutor who had asked for the validation of the restrictive measure and the prohibition of residence in the province of Agrigento had ceased. In any case, the decision of the Cassation would not have changed Rackete's position, who would have remained at liberty even with an acceptance of the power of attorney's appeal, but it will be important to read the reasons with which the Supreme Court will explain its verdict, the filing of which, according to the rules of the criminal procedure code, it is expected in 30 days.

Rackete Defense: "From Cassation consistent pronunciation"
"Great satisfaction for a coherent measure from an institutional and legal point of view". So the lawyer Alessandro Gamberini, defender of Carola Rackete, comments on the ruling of the Cassation which rejected the appeal of the Agrigento prosecutor's office against the order with which the investigating judge, on 2 July last, had not validated the arrest of the Sea commander Watch. "Now - adds Gamberini - it will be important to read the reasons but today's outcome gives me hope for the continuation of the procedure".