(AFP) An Italian judge on Wednesday dropped the case against a German captain arrested for forcibly docking her ship with migrants on board, the NGO that operates the vessel said.
Carola Rackete was arrested in June 2019 after guiding the Sea-Watch 3 rescue boat into port on the Italian island of Lampedusa, knocking a coastguard boat out of the way to land more than 40 migrants who were blocked at sea for over two weeks.
She acted in defiance of a veto imposed by then-interior minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, under a “closed ports” policy designed to stem the flow of illegal migration onto Italy’s shores.
