The 29 October 2022 hearing lasted only a few minutes, as the judge announced the postponement of the hearing due to the pending questioning by police of Iuventa captain and defendant Dariush Beigui.

After the judge’s decision on 15 June 2022 to suspend the proceedings due to procedural defects, the case files of four defendants – three Iuventa crew members and the NGO Save the Children – were split from the others in the case. The prosecution had to properly notify the four defendants of the termination of the investigation phase, which it had previously failed to do. Following this notification, Iuventa defendant Dariush Beigui then exercised his right to request voluntary questioning by the police, to be included into the case file. However, the police failed to interrogate him on time, leading to the postponement of the 29 October hearing. 

Later in the day on 29 October, Beigui presented himself before the police for voluntary questioning. The interrogation was halted prematurely, however, due to inadequate interpretation from Italian to German, which the police are required to provide Beigui during questioning. While the interpreter was a native German-speaker, registered with and having worked for the Court of Trapani in the past, she reportedly lacked the technical capacity to adequately interpret the interrogation, as she was unfamiliar with requisite legal and investigative terminology, including basic words like “defendant.” Beigui commented: “We are taking the risk of voluntary interrogation that could end up being used against us in order to finally move forward in this case. We believe that sea rescue is not a crime and, therefore, we have nothing to hide. But the quality of the interpretation was totally inadequate to clarify essential issues.” The interrogation is scheduled to resume with a new interpreter on 12 November 2022. 

Inadequate translation and interpretation continue to pose significant fair trial concerns for the Iuventa defendants during the preliminary hearing phase of the case. Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 20, 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings, requires that key documents be translated to ensure that suspects are able to adequately exercise their defense rights and to protect the fairness of the proceedings. The Iuventa crew members and other defendants in this case face serious charges that could potentially result in 20 years in prison and high fines. Yet, to date, the entire case file containing the evidence against the Iuventa defendants has not been translated into German and the interpreters provided by the Court of Trapani – both at the first preliminary hearing on 17 May 2022 and Beigui’s questioning by police on 29 October 2022 – have been inadequate to ensure the defendants’ rights regarding effective participation in the proceedings. The Iuventa crew members’ defense lawyers have announced that they may ask the Court of Trapani to refer the issue to the European Court of Justice if it remains unresolved. 

The next preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place at the Court of Trapani on 3 December 2022.