This week, a court in the Italian city of Salerno ordered the suspension of the 60-day administrative detention of the Geo Barents, the Doctors Without Borders search and rescue vessel. The arrest was ordered by Italian authorities on August 26, alleging that the ship’s crew failed to provide information in time to the country’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC).
In a statement, MSF welcomed the suspension of the detention, which comes after an appeal filed by the NGO. “The judge recognized that the Geo Barents had not contributed to creating a dangerous situation on board, as previously alleged in the arrest warrant. On the contrary, according to the court, the rescue operation launched by the MSF team was urgent and unavoidable. The court also recognized that the Libyan coastguard, present on site, had been informed in advance that the rescue operation was being carried out in international waters,” it details in the text.
Furthermore, the organization pointed out that the court of Salerno, in southern Italy, ruled that the application of a 60-day administrative detention “would irreversibly jeopardize the right of the ship to pursue its humanitarian objectives in accordance with international law and Italian constitutional values.”
When the Geo Barents was blocked in the port of Salerno, the NGO reported that it was the third time the ship had been subjected to “a punitive measure of this type for fulfilling its legal obligation to save lives at sea.” “They punished us simply because we fulfilled our legal obligation to save lives,” said Juan Matías Gil, MSF’s search and rescue representative.
The Italian government, led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, has made it harder for NGOs to carry out its immigration policy, requiring them to carry out only one rescue, sending them to very remote ports or blocking ships for up to 60 days if they do not follow its instructions, among other measures. According to MSF, since the Piantedosi decree came into force in early 2023, more than 20 humanitarian rescue ships have been immobilized.
