(AFP) German aid group Sea Watch said Tuesday it has filed a case at the European Human Rights Court against Italy for refusing to allow its ship carrying 47 rescued migrants to dock.
The German NGO’s spokesman Ruben Neugebauer said the group had taken the drastic step on Friday because of Rome’s hardline attitude against the mainly sub-Saharan migrants that its ship Sea Watch 3 pulled out of the Mediterranean on January 19.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is “taking the people on board as political hostages,” said Neugebauer.
“They are trying to push it to the Netherlands,” he added, referring to Salvini’s insistence that the Netherlands or Germany take responsibility for the migrants.
