Italian judge orders release of ship captain who rescued refugees
Source: The Guardian
An Italian judge has ordered the release of the German captain of a migrant rescue ship who had been placed under house arrest for breaking an Italian naval blockade.
Carola Rackete was arrested after forcing her way into the Sicilian port of Lampedusa on the Sea-Watch-3 carrying 40 migrants and refugees she had rescued off Libya.
But on Tuesday, judge Alessandra Vella ruled that Rackete had been carrying out her duty to protect life and had not committed any act of violence.
Rackete was questioned for three hours in court on Monday over allegations that she had rammed a military vessel which was trying to prevent her bringing the migrants to port on Friday. She apologised to the court and said the collision had been an accident.
-snip-
Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Josie Le Blond in Berlin
Tue 2 Jul 2019 22.36 BST First published on Tue 2 Jul 2019 13.13 BST
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/more-than-1m-raised-for-rescue-ship-captain-carola-rackete-italy
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yay for Captain Rackete!
