The legal department of Mediterranea Saving Humans has today sent to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mr Karim Khan KC, a copy of the public statement of the Italian Minister of the Interior, Mr Matteo Piantedosi, on the collective rejections in Libya carried out by militias belonging to the authorities of the North African country. Minister Piantedosi, in a communication on the social 'X' published on 19 September 2024 at 11.15 a.m., declared: "Since January, 16,220 migrants heading for European shores have been intercepted at sea and safely returned to Libya. A figure that testifies to the effectiveness of Italy's cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of migrants in the fight against traffickers and deaths at sea'.

Since Libya is an 'unsafe place', as certified by the most authoritative international bodies and the United Nations, collaborating in the deportation of refugees and displaced persons to that country constitutes a crime in violation of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the Hamburg Convention on Maritime Rescue.

We have therefore signalled to the International Criminal Court the 'justification' of this very serious crime committed, as Minister Piantedosi himself admits, against 16,220 human beings whose fate neither he nor anyone else can now know, having fallen into the hands of the captors from whom they were trying to escape. With this report to the ICC, we hope to contribute to the opening of an independent investigation by the staff of the OTP at the International Criminal Court, in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Charter.

Bologna, 19 September 2024