From escaping the war and surviving the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean, to jail in Italy

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More than 2,500 migrants have been detained in Italy

for "human trafficking" or "aiding illegal immigration" in the last 10 years. Although they are also migrants desperate to reach Europe and all they have done is drive the boat with their fellow travelers across the Mediterranean. Hundreds of them are serving or have served long prison sentences based on anti-mafia laws to find them guilty, according to a report prepared by several Italian NGOs to which this newspaper has had access. The document highlights the criminalization of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the transalpine country.

In the last year, the Italian police have arrested

, accusing them of "facilitating illegal immigration", a crime that can carry up to 15 years in prison and fines of millions of euros.

In some cases, NGOs say, if deaths occur during dangerous navigation, the sentences escalate to as much as 30 years or life imprisonment.

"These people are not treated as refugees, but at the same level as a war criminal or a terrorist. When they are convicted they have no option to house arrest and are described as 'socially dangerous'," says

, spokesman for ARCI Porco Rosso to THE WORLD.

The report "From the sea to prison" has been prepared by ARCI Porco Rosso and Alarm Phone, with the collaboration of Borderline Sicilia and Borderline Europe, and has collected official data and reviewed more than 1,000 criminal cases brought to justice by the Prosecutor's Office against the refugees accused of piloting the boats. The work has also been based on hundreds of interviews with sentenced migrants, lawyers, judges, prison officials and members of the Italian Coast Guard. Their analysis has found evidence of how police officers offer papers and other incentives to migrants arriving in Italy by sea, to persuade them to testify against the alleged skippers of the boats. These, in many cases,they are simply migrants or refugees forced by smugglers on land to conduct navigation.

"It is clear that they were driving the boat, but they had no other option. This is the case, for example, of two Syrians who fled the country [at war since 2011] and who today are serving two years and ten months in prison in Italy," explains Braude.

"This is due to the criminalization of the skippers of the boats: before, a pilot drove the boat; now, as they are persecuted, they refuse to do it and it is the migrants themselves who do it. There are more and more cases of people who do not know how to handle a boat ".

And this, he adds, has

: "It contributes to more deaths at sea."

Forced at gunpoint

The 'dossier' includes how the recruitment process develops. Before a boat leaves for Italy from Libya, Tunisia or Turkey,

. It may be that person who did not manage to raise enough money to pay the smugglers or who has already made the road before and has been returned. It may be that the captain initially chosen is not in a position to steer the boat and another has to take care of steering it so as not to sink. Other times, they are forced at gunpoint on the same beach. "An Arab approached me with a gun and told me that I had to take the compass while the man behind me told him that he would guide the boat or else he would shoot us," says LM a 15-year-old migrant whose testimony it is reflected in the document. "You can't do anything, everyone in Libya has weapons. Who can say no when someone orders you to do something," he says.

When they arrive on Italian soil, the authorities ask the passengers to identify the alleged patron, who is detained. Although many judges recognize the

- an assumption in which Italian law provides that conduct, even if illegal, is justified in order to protect the perpetrator or others from more serious danger - hundreds of cases find their way to court. , sometimes in the form of express judgments.

The data analyzed includes 2,559 detainees under this assumption since 2013. The maximum peak was reached in 2016, with 770. In 2021, according to data collected between January and August, NGOs have had evidence of at least 44 arrests.

Since 2013, investigators have registered at least 24 people sentenced to 10 years in prison and another six to life imprisonment out of 1,000 cases reviewed.

The charges can range from immigrant smuggling to association with a criminal gang, even homicide if fatalities occur, applying the

.

This can lead to situations in which people entitled to asylum in Europe because they come from countries at war such as Afghanistan, Syria or Libya, end up in prison.

Turk's heads

Maria Giulia Fava

, legal advisor who co-authored the report, stresses that migrants accused of piloting the boats are subjected to "political trials", since the work - which spans 94 pages - has found that many sentences are produced although the evidence is weak or sparse. "In the hunt for a scapegoat, someone to blame for death and disaster, the guarantees of a fair trial are set aside. The principles that should be at the base of the law are simply forgotten," he says . The trend has been increasing in Italy especially since 2015, although experts point out that it is framed in a European context.

The collective authors of the 'dossier' urge the Italian and European authorities to "decriminalize the driving of boats and transport, create legal and safe channels for migration and stop criminalizing migrants 'per se'".

"Criminalizing migration is simply part of a violent border system that we need to abolish. Europe needs to recognize and take responsibility for these unfair and deadly migration policies and the consequences they have on the lives of those affected. Sending people to jail does not it will stop migration or make it safer, "denounces

, an activist for Alarm Phone.

* This report is part of Lost in Europe, a cross-border journalistic project that investigates the disappearance of migrant minors in Europe

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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