The Italian judge wrapped up the episode with the rescue vessel Sea Watch 3, and it's captain. The captain is released, and the matter mostly ended. The judge's chief comment? The ordered denial to the vessel by the Italian Interior Minister.....was illegal. He could not ban the vessel from docking and releasing rescued migrants.
The end? I kinda doubt it.
The present Italian government doesn't want Lampedusa or for that matter....Italy....to be the dumping ground for migrants rescued in the Med.
I suspect eventually....a legal case will be made that these 'rescues' don't qualify as a rescue. If you load a hundred folks on a rubber raft, and drag it forty miles into the sea, then release the rope....is it a true rescue that happens next? And if they paid to be taken out in a rubber raft and set adrift in the sea....is that a true rescue?
I will agree that the German news media will pump up the release of the ship and it's captain as super-positive....but what exactly has all of this achieved? The Interior Minister of Italy will sit down and devise the next confrontation. Eventually, someone will suggest that you bring out a Italian government vessel....tie a rope onto the drifting raft, and drag the hundred folks back down to Libya....for the Libyan Coast Guard to rescue.
If there is ever a connection proven between the smuggling crowd and the rescue crowd? Well, it would be near impossible to show a real connection, but the public support would rapidly disappear if they appear to be hand-in-hand....running some kind of fake rescue business.
So stand by...the saga will continue.
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