THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) is to assess the legitimacy of Italian and EU laws that have been used to criminalise people on the move and activists who have rescued and support them across the continent.
Lawyer Francesca Cancellaro filed a constitutional compliant against article 12 of Italian Immigration Act (which criminalises the facilitation of unauthorised entry of foreigners into the country) during a trial in Bologna of a Congolese woman who entered Italy with her daughter and niece with forged documents in hope of seeking asylum in Europe.
Italy’s Immigration Act, and the EU anti-smuggling law that underpins it, has been used to criminalise refugees for having steered the boat or car they arrived in (if even they did this under duress), and has been used to prosecute activists for saving refugee lives.
Ms Cancellaro’s complaint argues that both laws violate the fundamental rights of people on the move, and those working in solidarity with them, in contrast to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Italian Constitution.
The judge in Bologna today agreed to refer Ms Cancellaro’s complaint to the ECJ as a matter of urgency, and if accepted, proceedings could be expected to begun within the next six months.
“Our objection is that the European regulation, and consequently the Italian one that transposes it, does not include the intention to make a profit as a constitutive element of the offence,” Ms Cancellaro said.
“And, at the same time, it does not oblige Member States to exclude the responsibility of those who act out of altruistic and humanitarian reasons.”
Ms Cancellaro is also defending four refugee rescuers who saved over 14,000 lives in the Mediterranean between 2016 and 2017 on the Iuventa ship.
The four are currently on pretrial in Trapani while the prosecution tries to decide what to charge them with.
Ms Cancellaro raised the same complaint during that case in May, but the judge dismissed it in June.
Kathrin Schmidt, one of the Iuventa defendants, said: “It is time the focus shifts on the rights of those arrested as suspected ‘smugglers’ — who are usually sentenced to long prison terms without consideration of any circumstances.
“The EU legal framework provides the perceived legitimisation and the juridical opportunity for EU member states to abuse criminal law against people on the move and those in solidarity.
“European courts at this stage are still contributing to the ever increasing death toll in the Mediterranean. The racist and violent implementation of neo-colonial interests needs to stop once and for all.”
This is the first time that the ECJ will assess the legitimacy of EU legislation that has criminalised refugees/asylum seekers for simply steering a boat, driving a car, etc across a border.
If the complaint is successful, the effects of the decision would impact on similar past and future cases in Europe.
Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, the Open Arms rescue ship is on its way to Naples to disembark the 73 people her crew rescued yesterday with teh help of Alarm Phone and Sea-Watch’s reconnaissance plane.
“While many continue to celebrate yesterday’s elections,” the Open Arms organisation said in reference to the far-right’s electoral defeat in Spain at the weekend, “the Mediterranean reminds us that there is a reality a few kilometers from our homes that EU governments and institutions do not want to see: that of thousands of people who risk their lives at sea to flee violence, abuse and poverty.
“The only balcony from which we like to celebrate is on the Open Arms’s bridge, where we see the relief of still being alive in the eyes of the people we rescue.
“Defending their life and their rights is the only result that counts.”
The Nadir and Imara also saved the lives of 103 people yesterday, near to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Top image shows some of the Iuventa crew aboard a Rib [Pic: Federico Sutera]
The Civil Fleet 