Italian, Maltese and European politicians have created “a system of rejection and interception” of migrants, sending them back to Libya, where they are victims of exploitation, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) told Lusa.
The ECCHR filed a complaint this week against the Italian Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, the former Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti, and the exalted representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, for alleged “crimes against humanity , against migrants and refugees, intercepted at sea and systematically returned to Libya”, where they are subjected to “systematic detention”.
“We decided to file a complaint against these political figures because, in our opinion, there was awareness of their violation of human rights in Libya,” said human rights lawyer Chantal Meloni, a consultant to the ECCHR, who previously worked at the International Criminal Court. Lusa. .
According to Meloni, the “rejeição e interceção system” raised “delegated the Libyan coast guard to the uncomfortable task of intercepting the boats two migrants seeking asylum, aware that they would be taken back to Libya, which cannot be considered a safe port somehow”.
The ECCHR investigation lasted three years and took into account not only the agreements and treaties with Libya, but also the statements made in Parliament by the accused politicians.
“We wanted to shed light on the system of interception of migrants at sea and the outsourcing of flow management implemented by the EU, entrusting it to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, providing funding, patrol boats, equipment and training, as well as directly participating in individual interception at sea, for example by providing information on the position of vessels in distress,” Meloni said.
Italy’s immigration policy in recent years has repeatedly been the subject of criticism, but also criminal investigations, the main one involving Matteo Salvini, former Minister of the Interior between 2018 and 2019, when the “closed ports” policy was put into effect. therefore Difficulty for the disembarkation of migrants by ships of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
In Palermo, a new hearing was held this Friday in the trial in which Salvini is accused of kidnapping and denial of official documents, for having prevented, in August 2019, the docking in Lampedusa -according to the Public Ministry illegally- of The ship of the Catalan NGO Open Arms, with 147 immigrants rescued on the high seas.
According to Meloni, there was a “decisive role played by senior EU officials in relation to the deprivation of personal liberty to which migrants and refugees fleeing Libya are subjected.”
Last year, the ECCHR filed a similar complaint with the International Criminal Court, focusing on the individual criminal responsibility of high-level actors in Libya for alleged crimes against humanity committed against migrants and refugees in the context of their detention and transit through the territory. Libyan.
The new complaint, the NGO explained, “introduces new elements of fact and law relating to the operations through which migrants and refugees fleeing Libyan territory are intercepted at sea and returned to Libya.”
According to Meloni, based on information collected by the NGO that filed the complaint, “in Libya there are criminal organizations that use a mafia method to profit from migrants”, whom they “lead to forced labor, in construction and transportation” and employees as “support of the militias”, but also “became hostages of the organizations”.
Meloni reports that, based on the testimonies collected, they found “migrants who were kidnapped and whose photo was sent by Whatsapp to their relatives for ransom.”
Source: TSF
