Thursday August 3, 2023
The Tunisian fishing boat whose captain along with the other three crew members were arrested for maritime piracy | Photo: ANSA / CONCETTA RIZZO
Italian authorities are considering how to tackle the crime of piracy which in Italy lacks legal codification. This follows the cases of theft by fishing boats of engines belonging to migrant dinghies and also of cell phones and money belonging to the migrants.
The fishing boat called "Assyl Salah" was intercepted and stopped by two shipping boats that cut the boat off making it impossible for it to escape. Its crew and captain, four Tunisian citizens, were arrested for piracy.
The event was documented with filmed images of the inquiry operative naval section of the Lampedusa Finance Police, the military Coast Guard of Lampedusa, and the Mobile Squad, under the coordination of the acting Prosecutor of Agrigento, Salvatore Vella.
'The only piracy sentence in Italy was off the Somali coasts'
"We do not wish to criminalize the entire Tunisian seafaring, but there are several fishing vessels that have been used to commit these illegal activities," explained the prosecutor.
"We are considering the crime (piracy) which in Italy only has one previous sentence for an incident that occurred off the coasts of Somalia a long time ago. Therefore we are creating a legal framework. We had a fruitful discussion with the Preliminary Investigation Judge because there is the issue of defining what is meant by sea piracy," continued Vella.
"Our Preliminary Investigation Judge, Iacopo Mazzullo, has recognized the act of piracy constituted by the removal of the engine at sea, conducted violently and by threatening the migrants with knives.
"While the requisition of cell phones and money took place as a type of negotiation, the crew of the Tunisian shipping boat which is based in Monastir, far from Sfax, took the cell phones and money in exchange for towing the migrants' dinghy near the coasts of Lampedusa", stated Vella after reconstructing the sequence of events.
"Being tugged at that point was vital since the dinghy no longer had an engine, thereby forcing the migrants to hand over their money. After receiving the cell phones and money, which were found on board the fishing boat, the fishing boat towed them for a few minutes and then abandoned them. The Preliminary Investigative Judge of Agrigento qualified this conduct (the theft of cell phones and money) as aggravated extortion, a crime over which we would not have jurisdiction because it took place in international waters," he specified.
Lack of jurisdiction for extortion in international watersThe piracy attacks did not take place within the 12 nautical miles off Lampedusa, they happened outside Italian waters.
"Piracy, which is sanctioned internationally, solves the issue of jurisdiction because, with the UN Convention on the Right of Sea of Montego Bay, jurisdiction is recognized even for crimes that take place in international waters. However, this does not include extortion," noted the Prosecutor.
"Therefore we had a first arrest for aggravated extortion which was not validated by the Preliminary Investigative Judge of Agrigento as he believed that while there were serious crimes committed, the Italian legal framework lacked codification for this matter. The Preliminary Investigative Judge, therefore, had the four Tunisians released from jail.
The issue will reportedly be discussed with the Court of Review in Palermo and the Court of Cassation in order to improve the parameters and create a legislative framework in Italy, to establish what is considered as piracy and what is not.
The prosecutor also said that investigative protocols will be created to improve understanding of what to ask migrants and what to look for with flights. As of now the registered activities on Tunisian fishing boats could be considered aiding and abetting -- namely they were being paid to pool the dinghies to Lampedusa, or they could be seen as rescue activities, he said.