At the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the GUP of the Court of Ragusa decided to indict six activists of Mediterranea Saving Humans on charges of ‘aggravated aiding and abetting illegal immigration.’

The decision refers to what happened on 11 September 2020, when the ship Mare Jonio intervened to rescue 27 migrants who had been on board the Danish tanker Maersk Etienne for 38 days, abandoned in the middle of the sea without any possibility of disembarkation, despite their serious physical and psychological conditions. Mediterranea once again chose to be on the side of life, bringing those people to safety in the port of Pozzallo, where they disembarked with the authorisation of the Italian authorities. Three months later, the Maersk Tankers company made a transparent donation to support civil rescue activities at sea. A political-judicial fabrication was built on this affair, which we are ready to dismantle at trial.

Today meanwhile, to this attempt to criminalise solidarity, we respond with facts: Mediterranea Saving Humans has a new, large and wonderful ship ready to set sail.

This new ship will continue to rescue those who call for help at sea. It is the strongest and most concrete answer we can give to those in the Italian government and in the European institutions who work relentlessly to prevent the lives of migrants from being saved. We are part of the Civil Rescue Fleet. We work together to save lives, while others plot to repel them, causing suffering and death every day.

The new ship was born out of a deep conviction: in a Mediterranean sea turned into a giant mass grave, against the EU-funded prison camps in Libya, against agreements with dictators and traffickers, we raise our solidarity and commitment. Thanks to the cooperation between Sea-Eye and Mediterranea, this ship is also a symbol: it shows that another Mediterranean is possible, that another world is possible.

They will not stop us with defamation, espionage, lawsuits. They have called us a “threat to national security”, they try to slander us, to isolate us, to intimidate us. But they will not succeed. The power of those who save lives is greater than the power of those who let them die.

Today Mediterranea doubles. The ship Sea-Eye 4 becomes MEDITERRANEA and continues its mission as a ship of care, solidarity and dignity.

They find us silent and afraid. They find us more determined, happier, more alive than ever.