The Catania prosecutor's office has requested the seizure of the Aquarius. The charge: special waste treated as ordinary waste. Médecins Sans Frontières: they want to stop us.
The preliminary investigating judge in Catania, Carlo Cannella, acting on a request from prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro, has requested the seizure of the vessel Aquarius, operated by the NGOs Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée, and used for years to rescue migrants adrift at sea. According to the charge, the organisations allegedly failed to handle correctly the waste produced or collected on board.
The waste in question includes food scraps, clothing belonging to rescued individuals and medical equipment used on board, all potentially toxic or infectious. The investigating magistrates believe that, in total, as much as 24 tonnes of waste may have been classified as "ordinary" rather than "special". This raises the risk of transmission and spread of diseases such as scabies, tuberculosis, meningitis or HIV.
"The Aquarius has been seized. I was right to block the NGO ships — I have stopped not only the trafficking of illegal immigrants but, as it now emerges, also that of toxic waste," interior minister Matteo Salvini commented on Twitter. Médecins Sans Frontières immediately responded, explaining that the judicial decision "has one sole objective: to prevent the humanitarian and medical operations aimed at saving lives at sea".
Read also: Tommaso Fabbri of Médecins Sans Frontières: "I'll explain how migrant rescues work"
According to the humanitarian organisation, the measure is "disproportionate and instrumental, aimed at criminalising our work yet again." The vessel is currently docked in the port of Marseille, France. Over two and a half years of operations, it has enabled the rescue of nearly 30,000 people, 23 per cent of whom were minors.
