Migrants: the NGO Sea-Watch files a complaint in Italy against the Libyan coast guard
The Sea-Watch 3 rescue boat heading for Lampedusa, June 26, 2019. - LOCALTEAM / AFP / File
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3 min
The Sea-Watch organization lodged a complaint in Agrigento, Sicily, against the Libyan coast guard for attempting to kill 63 migrants at sea.
The facts date back to June 30 and were filmed by aid workers.
After the violence at sea, the legal puzzle.
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With our correspondent in Rome,
Anne Tréca
Can the Italian justice prosecute the Libyan coast guards for a crime committed in the maritime rescue zone entrusted to the Maltese?
This is the question asked by the Agrigento prosecutor's office to its supervisory authorities.
To support its complaint, the German NGO Sea-Watch submitted the video published six days ago on social networks.
The film is taken from a plane.
We see a Libyan Coast Guard star attacking a migrant boat sailing towards Italy, trying to ram it, firing with firearms - we can clearly see the bullet holes in the water - and launching projectiles, says Sea-Watch.
The Agrigento prosecutor's office had in its time refused to incriminate
Carola Rackete
, the captain of the Sea-Watch who had forced the opening of a port in Italy.
He is known to be sensitive to the issue of mistreatment of people crossing the Mediterranean.
If he receives the green light from Rome, he will not let go.
Especially since the star in question would have been according to Sea Watch offered by Italy to the Libyan coast guard 4 years ago.
The legal experts now have the floor.
Public opinion is alerted.
The video shot by Sea-Watch is chilling.
The 63 migrants targeted by the Libyan military finally arrived on the island of Lampedusa.
Yesterday #Seabird witnessed a brutal attack by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard deep in the Maltese SAR zone.
Our video shows: Shots have been fired in the direction of the boat, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard tried to ram the boat several times and threw objects at people.
pic.twitter.com/0C2YSmcPoO
- Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) July 1, 2021
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