Italian court drops charges against migrant rescue ship crews and ends long

ROME (AP) — An Italian court on Friday dismissed a long-running case against the crew of three humanitarian organizations, dropping charges accusing them of collaborating with smugglers as they helped rescue thousands of migrants at sea.

The judges in the Sicilian city of Trapani decided not to proceed to trial against 10 crew members involved in the so-called Iuventa case, named after the rescue vessel operated by German nonprofit Jugend Rettet.

Staff members from Jugend Rettet, Save The Children and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were fully acquitted from all charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.

Italian prosecutors started the case in 2017, accusing the crew members of serving as “taxis” for migrants rather than rescuing them. The rescue teams were alleged to have coordinated their search-and-rescue actions with human traffickers off Libya, returning dinghies and boats to smugglers to be reused, while rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean whose lives were not in real danger.