The investigation started from Trapani in August 2017 and still ongoing today, so much so that it is the most important on this front, it was not the first on Ong. Even before the Catania prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro he caught the ire of center-left activists and politicians for opening an investigation into alleged contacts between NGOs and smugglers.
Even his words spoken at the time in the broadcast Agora, about the complicity of organizations with traffickers, have caused real media earthquakes. That investigation was then closed in 2019. Others, by various Sicilian prosecutors, have been opened. Archiving has often occurred, but the investigations have also made it possible to acquire sensitive elements and clues from a political point of view.
Today there are three open investigations. There is that of Trapani in fact, as well as that of Ragusa on Luca Casarini with Mediterranea Saving Humans at the center. The one up is not officially closed yet Carola Racketand in Agrigento, with the dossier set up after the Sea Watch 3 ramming of a Guardia di Finanza patrol boat in Lampedusa in June 2019.
Past inquiries
There is a constant when it comes to investigations into NGOs. Much of the media and political world close to activists applauds the prosecutors who do not investigate organizations. On the contrary, those who initiate proceedings against NGOs are put in a bad light. Against Carmelo Zuccaro in Catania, after the first investigation into the world of humanitarian organizations engaged in the Mediterranean, there was no lack of political attacks. The Minister of Justice at the time, it was about Andrea Orlando of the Democratic Party, asked the prosecutor to speak with documents in hand.
Even in the following years there was no lack of attacks on the head of the Etna prosecutor’s office. Luca Casarini, head of mission of Mediterranea Saving Humans, last April 7 spoke of the “criminalization” of NGOs by some prosecutors, with reference to the investigations from Catania: “Just remember – he said in an interview reported by AdnKronos – the great synergy between Zuccaro and the former Minister of the Interior Marco Minniti ”. One way to insinuate alleged coordination between the Viminale and the offices of the prosecutor of the Etna capital.
On the contrary, there was no shortage of applause towards other judges. Like when, for example, in July 2019 the investigating judge of Agrigento, Alessandra Vella, removed the house arrest from Carola Rackete a few days after the ramming of Lampedusa. For the NGOs, of course, the investigating judge in question acted freely. The power of attorney of Agrigento it opened and then closed other inquiries on organizations. But they were of a different tenor. They concerned, in particular, the suspicions of aiding immigration during the cloudy summer of 2019, characterized by the tug-of-war between the NGO and the then minister Matteo Salvini following the green light dethe safety decrees.
The political “coloring” given to the Sicilian prosecutors has remained only on the plate of controversy. From Catania, as well as from Agrigento and other squares on the island, laws and procedures were simply followed. That was enough to unleash an infinite number of insinuations over the years, both in favor of and against the activities of the prosecutors.
The Trapani investigation
Having re-emerged after 4 years of silence, the proceeding initiated by the Trapani prosecutor’s office in 2017 is still open and is also triggering a lot of controversy in this case. Investigators have many clues in hand against three NGOs: the German Youth saves, Save The Children e Doctors Without Borders. There are photos, videos and testimonies on alleged relationships between activists and traffickers. In fact, in this case, the archiving is not proceeding, for 24 subjects the notification of conclusion of the investigations was sent at the beginning of April.
The controversy, however, has arrived on other fronts. That is, on the chaos that broke out in relation to wiretapping of some reporters in 2017. Many reporters have actually been intercepted indirectly. The only user really under control was that of Nancy Porsia, unrelated to the investigation. Hence the controversy that will probably slow down the investigation.
From Trapani the prosecutor Maurizio Agnello however, he pointed out some details. Such as the fact that the talks between the journalist and her lawyer, the one most at the center of the controversy, were not of a professional nature. As stated in the documents of the prosecutor of Trapani examined by IlGiornale.it, between Nancy Porsia and the lawyer there was talk of the journalist’s role as a witness or as a consultant in another immigration trial underway in Palermo.
In any case, the fact that the intercepted was a citizen who was not suspected and not investigated could take a long time for the inspectors sent by the Ministry of Justice to the Sicilian city. Postponing other (probable) political controversies to a later date.
Political controversy
Obviously, the Ragusa prosecutor’s office, “guilty” of having opened the investigation into Mediterranea Saving Humans accused of having concluded a prior agreement with a Danish shipping company for the transshipment of migrants in September 2020, ended up at the center of the controversy. With the Iblean investigators labeled as those who have the sole purpose of criminalizing NGOs.
An investigation started on March 1 In the following weeks, instead, in Palermo, former minister Matteo Salvini was indicted on the Open Arms case. In this case, the political and media world close to the NGOs applauded the Sicilian prosecutor. And here another constant emerges: when it comes to investigations involving organizations, two weights and two measures always apply to judgments regarding the activities of judges.
The controversy surrounding the NGO investigations reflects the tensions of a political nature on the immigration front. Another constant, also this, destined to last over time.