VALLETTA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The operators of the Sea Watch migrant rescue ship, Sea-Watch e.V, filed a court case on Monday demanding compensation from the Maltese government after their vessel was held in Valletta for four months last year.
Lawyers representing humanitarian NGO Sea-Watch e.V claimed that the decision to deny one of its rescue ships permission to set sail from Malta violated its right to enjoyment of property and was an abuse of power.
The organisation, which organises search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, operates three vessels which would sail from Malta and head towards international waters off Libya to monitor and assist immigrants from Africa who find themselves in difficulty whilst making the perilous sea crossing to Europe.
On June 16, 2018, the vessel Sea-Watch 3 entered Valletta port for maintenance and scheduled certification inspection, before asking for permission to leave the port on June 30. The Maltese port authorities did not issue the necessary permission for it to leave, however, initially claiming that "checks" were holding up the permit.
Despite everything being in order, the authorities refused to give their consent to allow the ship to set sail.
Towards the end of August, the ship had been informed that it would finally be receiving authorisation, but this was cancelled at the last minute without explanation. When the ship was finally allowed to sail on Oct. 22, almost four months from its intended departure date, there was no formal decision or change in circumstances, it said.
"Essentially, from the legal aspect, when it sailed from Grand Harbour, the ship was in the same position as when it entered the port," reads the court application. Two other migrant rescue ships, the M/V Lifeline and the M/V Seefuchs were also being detained at the same time.
Pointing out that port state control checks usually take a matter of days and certainly not months, the NGO's lawyers accused the authorities of "assisting the Government in its work to stop (rescue) vessels operated by NGOs."
The holding of a rescue ship until the end of the migrant crossing season was an "unabashed abuse of power", argued the NGO's lawyers, asking the court to declare their rights as having been infringed and demand compensation.
