Posted by Pia on Wed, 12 Jun 2019 10:00 | #

       
        Pia Klemp (screenshot Youtube).

Daily Mail, 12 June 2019:

Female German boat captain, 35, faces up to 20 years in prison in Italy for RESCUING more than 1,000 migrants in the Mediterranean

Pia Klemp has been under investigation since her boat was impounded in 2017

Italian authorities allege that she was colluding with Mediterranean smugglers

They have also moved to stop her from sailing around Italian coasts altogether

In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, she said her trial is about to begin

Klemp says she will take fight all the way to the European Court of Human Rights

A German boat captain could face 20 years in prison for her Mediterranean rescue work after allegedly co-operating with smugglers to traffic migrants to Italy.

Pia Klemp faces trial in Italy for assisting illegal immigration after her boat was impounded in 2017.

Supporters of the 35-year-old from Bonn hail her as a humanitarian who has been personally responsible for hundreds of rescue missions.

But Italian authorities allege that she colluded with smugglers to collect migrants at Mediterranean rendezvous points and stage rescues at sea.

[...]

German charity Jugend Rettet also came under suspicion of towing boats used to ferry migrants back towards Libya, where most migrants hoping to reach Europe depart, to be reused by smugglers.

Details about the alleged collusion were contained in documents outlining the case prepared by prosecutors in Sicily following months of accusations about charities co-operating with smugglers.

However, the investigation concluded that there was no evidence that charity members received any money from the traffickers.

Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor from the Sicilian city of Trapani who was behind the investigation, said that the motivation of the aid vessels was ‘humanitarian’.

Migrant arrivals from North Africa and the Middle East have been sharply reduced since a 2015 peak when Europe faced its worst migration crisis since World War II.