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Italy Court Lifts House Arrest on German Captain, Says She Was Protecting
Life

Reuters

   AGRIGENTO, ITALY - An Italian judge ruled on Tuesday that the captain
   of a charity ship had not broken the law by crashing through a naval
   blockade, saying that by bringing rescued migrants to port she was
   carrying out her duty to protect life.

   Judge Alessandra Vella ordered the 31-year-old German captain, Carola
   Rackete, released from house arrest where she had been held since
   Saturday when she disobeyed Italian military orders and entered the
   port of Lampedusa.

   Rackete had faced up to 10 years in prison on possible charges of
   endangering the lives of four policemen for hitting a patrol boat at
   the quay as she brought some 41 African migrants to land in the
   Sea-Watch rescue vessel.

   She still could face separate charges of aiding illegal immigration,
   but the judge said she had no charges to face over the crash itself.

   The ruling was swiftly denounced by Italy's hardline interior minister,
   Matteo Salvini, who has campaigned to bar charities from bringing
   refugees to Italian ports.

   "I am indignant, I am disgusted, but I will not give up," Salvini said
   in a statement saying he had expected much more robust action by the
   Italian justice system and promising to expel Rackete from the country
   as soon as possible.

   "We will restore honor, pride, well-being, hope and dignity to Italy,
   whatever it costs," he said.