The Court of Trapani has ruled on the appeal lodged by the Captain and Owner of the MEDITERRANEA ship against the heavy penalties – 60 days of administrative detention and a €10,000 fine – imposed by the Ministry of the Interior after the decision on 23 August to refuse the distant port of Genoa and instead set course for Trapani, in order to disembark the 10 people rescued off the coast of Libya in the dramatic case of 21 August.

The outcome of the hearing is sensational: Judge Federica Emanuela Lipari upheld the precautionary appeal and decided to suspend the detention of the ship. The Court of Trapani, pending a ruling on the overall contents of the case, meanwhile “censures the illegality of the measure [of the Ministry of the Interior] in terms of the quantification of the penalty”. And – agreeing with the arguments presented by our Lawyers Cristina Laura Cecchini and Lucia Gennari – it insists that the Interior Ministry ignored all the requests, “always justified by the concrete circumstances”, with which we asked for a “reassignment of the safe port of disembarkation”.

But even clearer is the ruling on the legitimacy of our choices: MEDITERRANEA set course for Trapani “to protect the people rescued” … “taking into account their vulnerable and fragile condition, both physically and psychologically.” In essence, “the violation of the authorities’ instructions” was motivated by “an exclusive spirit of solidarity, to protect the vulnerable individuals on board the vessel” and therefore aimed at “safeguarding the objectives of protecting life and health at sea” which

States should uphold on the basis of the International Law governing the matter. Finally, the Court states that the ship must be released as soon as possible because otherwise the “humanitarian and solidarity objectives” pursued by MEDITERRANEA, considered “particularly worthy of protection as they are aimed at safeguarding human life”, will be compromised.

The Minister of the Interior, Piantedosi, wanted to build an heavy political speculation on our case, he wanted an exemplary punishment to strike our ship, civil rescue and solidarity at sea, openly claiming an attitude that seriously violated the fundamental rights of the people rescued.

But this time, the law is stronger than government propaganda and unjust and illegitimate orders and measures: people’s lives and health come first, and the imposition of a “distant port” is revealed for what it is: an useless and illegal cruelty, now defeated. MEDITERRANEA will soon return to its mission at sea, to do what is right: to rescue.