Cap Anamur

In 2004, the association's ship Cap Anamur became the centre of attention in international media after rescuing 37 refugees from North Africa whose boat was sinking.^[7] While crossing the Mediterranean for the Suez Canal it made the rescue, then after three weeks between the borders of the territorial waters of Italy and Malta, several of those who had been rescued threatened to throw themselves overboard. The captain set out for the Italian coast, applying for an exceptional permit to dock, citing a situation of imminent danger on board.^[8] However, Italy refused him asylum, arguing that under international maritime law, the ship should have disembarked its shipwrecked in Malta, the first country where the vessel had docked, before sailing to Sicily. At the landing in Porto Empedocle (Agrigento), the African asylum-seekers were sent to a detention centre where their cases were examined individually, but their cases were described as 'without hope', in particular because 'the files are not complete because the applicants have not received adequate legal assistance',^[9] and the Italian police jointly arrested Elias Bierdel (director of the Cap Anamur association), as well as Captain Stefan Schmidt. They were considered to have been caught red-handed assisting the entry of illegal immigrants into Italian territory. The ship was impounded.^[8]

Several charges were not upheld by the court, but the offense alleged by the prosecutor of "supporting illegal immigration," with aggravated circumstances, resulted in a four-year prison sentence and a €400,000 fine for the three defendants (Elias Bierdel, Stefan Schmidt, and Vladimir Dashkevitce). The arrest generated diplomatic tension between Germany and Italy, which likely led to the conditional release of the three defendants after five days in prison,^[9] but the trial continued.

After 30 hearings and more than 40 witnesses heard in sessions spread over 5 years of trial, the Agrigento court finally acquitted the 3 accused in 2009, recognizing that the facts considered did not constitute a crime: anyone who carries out a rescue operation at sea, by disembarking shipwrecked people in a "safe port" does not commit a crime.^[10] In terms of jurisprudence, this judgment establishes that States must respect the international law of the sea, including the positive obligations of rescue and the prohibition of collective expulsions. This decision also validates the "principle of non-refoulement" which is one of the foundations of the Geneva Convention. The court considered that on board, no one other than the captain can identify the most suitable port for the disembarkation of people rescued in distress.^[10] Following this landing and the resulting trial, the Italian Court also declared the "constitutional illegitimacy" of the provision of the "Fini-Bossi Law"^[11][12][13] providing for the expulsion by a magistrate of an illegal immigrant whose right to defense had not been guaranteed. It also considered a provision that made mandatory the arrest of an immigrant who had not respected the five-day deadline set by the authorities to leave the country to be invalid.^[10]

• Cap Anamur website (in German)
• Cap Anamur website (in English)