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ROME: Six members of an Italian charity which rescues migrants in the Mediterranean went on trial in Sicily on Tuesday, accused of aiding illegal immigration.
The case centers around the Mare Jonio, a ship operated by Mediterranea Saving Humans (MSH), which took 27 migrants off a giant tanker in 2020 and brought them to Italy.
The migrants had been stranded on the Danish tanker Maersk Etienne for over a month, with both Italy and Malta refusing to accept them.
The defendants include charity’s co-founder Luca Casarini, the ship’s captain and three crew members, including a doctor.
Prosecutors allege the rescue was financially motivated, pointing to a 125,000-euro ($145,000) payment from Maersk to MSH months after the event.
Maersk said in a statement in 2021 that the money had been intended to “cover some of the costs” the rescue charity endured.
“At no point” was financial compensation discussed during the operation, it stressed.
Maersk also praised MSH for coming to the rescue, saying the tanker’s repeated calls for assistance had been ignored by authorities and the situation on board had become “dire from a humanitarian point of view.”
MSH describes the payment as a “transparent donation.”
The defense team says the trial in Ragusa is the first of its kind in Italy.
Previous attempts to prosecute crew members of rescue vessels have all petered out either before or during preliminary hearings.
Defense lawyer Fabio Lanfranca told AFP the team raised a series of technical objections at the first hearing on Tuesday.
These mainly concerned the use of wiretaps of conversations involving “lawyers, journalists, bishops and even members of parliament.”
Fellow lawyer Serena Romano said they also questioned whether providing medical assistance could be defined as criminal.
The next hearing was set for January 13.
The hard-right government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in 2022, vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.
It has repeatedly clashed with rescue charities.
Despite admitting that charity rescue boats pick up only a small minority of arrivals, Rome has characterised them as a “pull factor” and has passed laws which work to reduce the time they spend at sea.

CERGY-PONTOISE, France: A tornado tore through districts north of Paris on Monday, toppling three construction cranes that killed one person and left four others with critical injuries, authorities said.
The town of Ermont, about 20 kilometers (13 miles) northeast of Paris was worst hit by the sudden twister that caused damage across about 10 districts.
Regional prosecutor Guirec Le Bras told AFP one 23-year-old construction worker was killed on a building site and 10 people had been injured with four in critical condition.
The tornado toppled cranes and tore off building roofs, authorities said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on the X platform that it had been a storm of “rare intensity.”
Videos shared on social media showed three cranes falling within seconds of each other.
One crane fell on a clinic, without causing injuries, and another on a residential building. Scores of firefighters, police and medical personnel were at the scene, authorities said.