It’s published
A European Court of Human Rights judge on Thursday ruled that Italy cannot be held responsible for the actions of Libyan coast guards and rejected a lawsuit brought by an immigrant group rescued from the Mediterranean in a fatal boat sinking in 2017.
A Strasbourg court declared the case would not be granted, and determined that Italy had no “effective control” of the waters off the coast of Tripoli, where a small ship carrying around 150 people had sunk.
Twenty people died in the sinking, and about 45 survivors were taken to Tajra detention centre in Tripoli, where they said they were beaten and abused.
The judge found that the captain and crew of the Libyan ship acted independently when they answered a distress signal in the early hours of November 6, 2017.
Since 2017, Italy has provided funding, vessels and training to Libya as part of an agreement to delay the number of migrants across the Mediterranean.
However, the judge found that the endorsement did not prove that “Italian took over Libya’s official authority.”
The immigrant group was rescued by the humanitarian organisation Sea Watch and taken to Italy.
The ruling in favour of the 14 survivors who filed complaints with the ECHR could undermine international agreements made by several EU countries, including Libya, Turkey, and other countries, to prevent migrants from coming to the European coast.
The ECHR handles complaints against the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.
Intergovernmental organizations were not EU institutions, but were established after World War II to promote peace and democracy.
Libya is not a member of the Council of Europe, so the courts have no jurisdiction over the actions of the state.
