The Palermo court agrees with Sea Watch which contested the months of stoppage after Carola forced the Italian blockade. Meloni furious: «Do magistrates reward those who boast of not respecting the law?».
Over 76,000 euros in compensation for the arrest ordered against the NGO ship which in June 2019 forced a ban from the yellow-green government and entered the port of Lampedusa with 43 migrants on board, ramming a warship of the Financial Police. In the case of the Sea Watch 3, the judiciary recognizes the captain’s ship Carola Rackete the documented financial expenses, incurred between October and December 2019: port and agency costs, fuel to keep the ship active (for 76,181 euros, plus revaluation and interest) and legal expenses (quantified at 14,103 euros). It is the bill presented by the judges of the civil court of Palermo to the prefecture of Agrigento, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
For a total of over 90,000 euros, to be paid “jointly” to the Dutch NGO. The ship was detained from July 12 to December 19 of that year. Immediately after the arrest, Sea Watch lodged an objection with the prefect of Agrigento. But no direct responses to the NGO had been received from the prefecture. In reality, the Port Authority had been informed that the checks on the administrative procedure were still ongoing and that, therefore, the Sea Watch 3 could not leave the port. According to the judges, however, the absence of direct communications would have produced the silence-acceptance mechanism, i.e. the automatic cessation of the seizure. Because the ship remained blocked until, after an emergency appeal, the Palermo court, on 19 December 2019, ordered its return. This is where the fracture occurs. Because the silence-acceptance was born as a guarantee against the inertia of the public administration. A remedy against bureaucratic inaction. But in this case it has become the key that transforms silence into a green light and the absence of response into implicit acceptance. It is not a substantive assessment of whether seizure is appropriate or not. But an automatic consequence linked to a lack of formal feedback. With the detention which is considered illegitimate by the judges. And that immediately unleashed the rhetoric of disobedience. «The compensation to Sea-Watch, linked to the affair Rackete demonstrates once again that civil disobedience is anything but arrogance, but protection of international law from the attacks of those who abuse their position of power to trample on it, to the detriment of everyone’s rights and freedoms”, claims the Sea Watch spokeswoman, Georgie Linardi. There Rackete at the time she had been arrested for resisting a warship, failure to comply with the order to stop and aggravated aiding and abetting irregular immigration. In 2021, however, the investigating judge of Agrigento ordered the dismissal of the criminal proceedings, accepting the request made by the public prosecutor. In the end, for that event, including the ramming of the patrol boat, only the State will pay the bill. The response came directly from the prime minister Georgie Melons: «Not only at the time Rackete she was acquitted because, according to some magistrates, it is allowed to force a police blockade in the name of mass illegal immigration. Today the judges make another decision that literally leaves us speechless, because after the ramming against our soldiers the boat was, rightly, detained and seized.” And it’s not over. There Melons he also asks: «But is the task of magistrates to enforce the law or to reward those who boast of not respecting the law? And then, what is the message you are trying to get across with this long series of objectively absurd decisions? That the government isn’t allowed to try to thwart mass legal immigration? That whatever law is made and whatever procedure is constructed, a politicized part of the judiciary is ready to get in the way?”. The Prime Minister’s conclusion is this: «I’m sorry if I disappoint more than anyone, because we are particularly stubborn and we will continue to do our best to respect the word we gave to the Italians and to enforce the rules and laws of the Italian State and we will do everything it takes to defend the borders and the safety of the citizens». And while the deputy of the Democratic Party Deborah Serracchiani The deputy prime minister runs to the aid of the NGO, calling the prime minister’s intervention “a bully’s act”. Matthew Salvini considers the decision «incredible, a real reward for having forced a government ban» on the NGO «of Carola Racketethe German activist who when I was at the Interior Ministry did not accept the line of closed ports which had practically eliminated landings and tragedies at sea.” Then he adds: «On March 22-23 I will vote Yes in the referendum to change this justice system that doesn’t work». “Once again the officials seem to be making politicized and incomprehensible decisions,” commented the president of the Forza Italia senators Maurice Gasparriwho added: «In this way we end up legitimizing those who have acted in contrast with the choices of the national authorities regarding immigration and security. The result is always the same, the Italian citizens pay. You violate the rules, you challenge the decisions of the state and in the end you are even rewarded with compensation. An unacceptable paradox.”
