Supply ship “forced 101 refugees back to Libya despite warnings from NGO vessel” Five children and five pregnant women were among those saved ROME: The captain of an Italian-flagged ship will go on trial next fall in Naples accused of forcing 101 migrants back to Libya, the first case of its kind in Italy. Such a case “has no precedent in the Italian judiciary system and may have relevant consequences,” said Nicola Fratoianni, an Italian MP asked to give evidence in the trial. The captain of the Asso 28 supply ship and a representative of Augusta Offshore, the company that owns the ship, are accused of violating international laws forbidding the forced return of people to countries where they are at risk. On July 30, 2018, the Italian ship rescued 101 migrants near an oil and gas rig in international waters between Italy and Libya, before taking them to a Tripoli port and handing them to the Libyan coast guard, Naples prosecutors Barbara Aprea and Giuseppe Tittaferrante allege. The migrants were rescued from an unseaworthy dinghy near the Sabratha platform, which is operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas, a consortium of Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Italy’s ENI. Five children and five pregnant women were among those saved. Prosecutors say that no call was made to Italy’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), despite the rescue occurring within Italian jurisdiction. The Augusta Offshore company claimed that the rescue was coordinated by the “Marine Department of Sabratha,” in conjunction with a representative of the Libyan coast guard who boarded the Asso 28. Italian prosecutors found no trace of the existence of the maritime department or any evidence that Libyan authorities were alerted. Magistrates in Naples have audio recordings of radio contact between the Asso 28 and an Open Arms charity rescue vessel, which requested details about the location and condition of the migrants. Fratoianni, leader of Sinistra Italiana, a far-left party, was on board the NGO ship during the rescue. He said Open Arms warned the Asso 28 that returning the migrants to Libya was illegal. “It was an explicit collective pushback on the part of a ship flying the Italian flag. Now it is important that we finally have a trial. It will be key to getting the truth,” he told Arab News. “We need to break the silence on the tragedies, drownings and deaths, but also the illegal returns which happen in the Mediterranean against international law. We owe this to all those who lost their lives trying to reach Italy in order to build a better life in Europe,” he added.