To define it so the Italian Admiral Nicola De Felice who, in a letter sent to the German ambassador in Italy, asks Germany to intervene on the activities set up by Sea Watch 3.
These are intense days for Sicily and, for the province of Agrigento in particular, with regard to the influx of migrants. Foreigners continue to arrive in several hundred by sea creating not few difficulties in the local reception centers both for the important numbers but also and, above all, for the high risk of health related to coronavirus.
In Porto Empedocle, on Moby Zaza, as is known, the red zone was established after 211 migrants transhipped by Sea Watch 3, 28 tested positive for tampons. The ship flying the German flag has been moored for several days in the rada, in Porto Empedocle: first because of the quarantine to which the crew was subjected, then because of the administrative detention imposed by the Coast Guard for irregularities found on board the same boat.
And just on Sea Watch 3 this morning, Admiral Nicola De Felice spoke with a letter addressed to the German ambassador in Italy. It is a text full-bodied but light in which it appears obvious, and, without words, the request of a concrete work of Germany on the responsibility of the activities carried out by the German ship: “ Dear ambassador, we read in the letter - I ask You to take all the necessary measures to stop all activities of Sea Watch 3 relating to the landing of illegal immigrants in Italy”.
The admiral then goes on to say in the body of the letter giving the responsibility to the German nation: “I Recall that the Germany - says De Felice - the flag State of this ship and, therefore, responsible of requests for political asylum and international protection of immigrants present on its territory, in accordance with article 13 of the EU Regulation Dublin and to the Convention of the Law of the Sea United Nations (UNCLOS). If your motto-continues the Admiral, it is that the relationship between Italy and Germany is not just a matter of the heart, but also important for the common future of Europe, you will agree that the ship is Sea Watch 3, where there is the German legal system, must disembark the migrants in Germany, respecting the Treaty of Dublin to be ratified by your Parliament, and according to the principle of solidarity of Lisbon".
The ship flying the German flag, as mentioned earlier, is currently moored in the rada at Port Empedocle indefinitely, pending the overcoming of irregularities that have been found within it. The boat used by Carola Rackete, in June of last year, to enter the Lampedusa forcing the Alt imposed by the authorities, speronando at the same time the patrol boats of the Guardia di finanza, is once again under the spotlight not only of the chronicle, but also of controversy.
And it is Nicola De Felice, always in the same letter, to the recall of the German ambassador to the facts of the past year that have put the Sea Watch 3 at the center of the international news: “you Know, writes the Admiral, " that the Captain of the Sea Watch 3 has committed a series of international crimes against the rules at sea, the UNCLOS, the rules of German and Italian, and various irregularities of a technical nature and operation, which have compromised not only the safety of the crew, but also of migrants, and has violated the regulations that protect the marine environment. These acts do not honor his nation and his flag, putting Germany and the very Christian German Evangelical Church in a position of 'unknowingly' collaboration with human traffickers."
At the end of the text Here Comes the decisive appeal combined with the wish to receive in response a concrete action in the wake of what was asked: “concluding - says De Felice - I expect your government to remove as soon as possible the honored German flag from the tree of the ship negriera Sea Watch 3. I trust that you will understand the situation and respect the great traditions of our common Naval History. I am sure your Excellency-here the letter ends - will do everything right to do in these cases and I take this opportunity to express my utmost respect for you and the German people."
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