Iuventa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Iuventa is a former fishing vessel built in 1962. From 2016 to 2017, it was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea to rescue migrants and refugees in distress at sea. In August 2017, it was seized by Italian authorities in the port of Lampedusa. After several years of investigations and criminal proceedings against crew members, the defendants were acquitted in April 2024.[1]
According to human rights organizations such as the ECCHR and Amnesty International, this was the longest, most expensive, and most extensive criminal trial ever brought against a civilian sea rescue organization.[2][3]
History
Construction and commercial use
The vessel was built under hull number 279 at the Scheepswerf Vooruit shipyard in Zaandam. It entered service as Maria (fishing registration: KW 202). Later names were Waterman II from 1969 and Jonas (fishing registration: HD 202) from 1971.[4]
In 1990, the vessel, which had until then been used for fishing, was sold and converted into an offshore standby and support vessel. Renamed Telco Suez, the ship was used in the construction of offshore wind farms.[5] At the end of 2001, it was sold again and renamed Alk Explorer.
Conversion and deployment for search & rescue
In June 2016, the vessel came into the possession of the organisation Jugend Rettet, which had it converted for search and rescue operations in June of that year by the Emder Werft- und Dockbetriebe shipyard.[6] It subsequently operated in the Mediterranean, assisting refugees in distress at sea.
Reception
In July 2018, Iuventa, a feature-length documentary by Michele Cinque about the ship and its missions, was released in cinemas.[7] In October 2024, Netflix announced a feature film, starring Louis Hofmann, based on the story of the Iuventa, with Michele Cinque attached as creative producer.[8]
On 10 May 2019, the crew of the Iuventa was awarded the Paul Grüninger Prize. In his laudatory address, Wolfgang Kaleck, co-founder of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), described the proceedings as politically motivated: "The Italian judiciary has pursued political ends by deploying a disproportionately high level of criminal and police resources — this is precisely the constellation that the critical legal scholar Otto Kirchheimer described in his seminal work as Political Justice."[9]
On 29 May 2019, captain Pia Klemp spoke about her experiences and impressions in the Mediterranean in a 15-minute special broadcast on the popular German TV show Joko and Klaas on ProSieben. Among other things, she recounted the story of a young mother whose deceased infant had to be stored in a freezer, as the Iuventa had been denied permission to dock at a safe port, even when docking might have saved the child's life.[10]
In 2020, the ten crew members of the Iuventa under investigation by the Italian judiciary received the Amnesty International Human Rights Prize. Amnesty International called on the Italian prosecution to drop the case, on the grounds that the crew's actions had been covered by international maritime law.[11]