After 6 years of investigations and preliminary proceedings, which have been ongoing since May 2022 and have already lasted over 30 trial days, we are now facing the decisive final phase of the Trapani court case. The judge is expected to decide in 2024 whether to close the case or continue with a trial that could last for many more years.
We insist that the charges against us are politically motivated and completely unfounded. In recent years, the prosecution has shown no interest in questioning relevant witnesses and analysing the available evidence. Throughout the trial, our rights as defendants have been repeatedly violated.
However, it is even more important to highlight the serious human rights violations that have resulted from investigations, seizures and trials: According to the IMO, more than 10,000 people have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean alone since the summer of 2017. More than 200,000 have been forcibly returned to Libya. All these people could have been saved! And the Iuventa could have made a vital contribution… if it hadn’t been seized!
Here you can read our statements as we gave them in court. In our own words and with our own documentation, we directly confront the allegations.
