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MALTA’S PRIME MINISTER Robert Abela says he is under investigation for his role in the death of at least five migrants who tried to sail from Libya to Italy.
Monitors of Mediterranean crossings said five people died and seven others went missing while their boat was in distress off Malta’s coast this week.
The boat was reportedly carrying around 55 people. It eventually returned to Libya under disputed circumstances after being spotted by a fishing boat.
On Thursday, Malta’s Repubblika civil rights organisation filed two police reports alleging criminal inaction on the part of Abela and Maltese armed forces commander Jeffrey Curmi.
Its second report was filed against 11 crew members of a Maltese patrol boat who allegedly cut the cables of the migrant dinghy’s motor.
The prime minister said in a television address last night that he had volunteered to cooperate with the police investigation.
“I was informed that, because of the nature of the accusations, the police have asked a magistrate to launch an enquiry into the armed forces officials and myself,” Abela said.
Investigators would probe “the homicide … of several irregular migrants at sea”, he added.
“The charge for homicide carries with it a life sentence,” the Maltese premier said.
Maltese police reports are automatically investigated. Criminal proceedings can then be launched depending on how much evidence is found.
Both Malta and Italy have closed their ports to migrants, citing the threat of the novel coronavirus.
The Mediterranean representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said “several grey areas remain about what exactly happened”.
“But for sure, lives could have been saved, the rescue should not have been delayed, those ‘rescued’ should not have been returned to #Libya & now need to be rescued from serious risks to their life,” UNHCR special envoy Vincent Cochetel tweeted.
Abela said he had acted in Malta’s national interest by protecting its citizens from the coronavirus pandemic.
“My conscience is clear because we have done everything in our power to protect our people and all those who live in this country,” he said.
Abela insisted that Maltese ports would remain closed until the pandemic subsides.
“In a health emergency, this country is not a safe port for migrants,” he said.
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He seems to have acted responsibly in the circumstances. That it carries a potential life sentence is insanity. The fact that the UNHCR official wants the illegal migrants who were returned to Libya safely to be trafficked to Europe once again is very telling. The EU should allow a vote on issues like this. There seems to be a very strange ideology at play that is hiding behind the pretense of saving people from drowning. The individuals who were returned to Libya are not Europe’s responsibility.
@Sylvia O’Regan: You did get the bit where a patrol boat allegedly cut the cables to the engine on the boat?
@Dara O’Brien: Allegedly. And if it’s true, the PM was not involved. I understand what you’re getting at. There’s the possibility of negligence. But the statement from the UN official that the illegal migrants who were returned must be trafficked once again to Europe is an immediate red flag. This looks like an idealogically motivated action designed to scare other European leaders into being very soft touch on breaches of our European border.
@Sylvia O’Regan: Well if he wasn’t involved in the cutting of the cables then he won’t be given a life sentence. That only applies to those who carried out the homicide…
@ihcalaM: The reputational damage of being associated with the allegations made is another kind of life sentence. What European leader will want to risk being accused of anything negative in similar situations in future? They’ll thread so softly that they’ll potentially hurt Europeans instead.
That’s what I suspect this is all about. The EUHRC have had absolutely nothing to say about the rape of women and children and murders perpetrated by some of the individuals who entered Europe illegally in 2016 as a result of European leaders fearful soft touch approach. Why haven’t they investigated and written reports criticising those leaders such as Merkel for a deriliction of their duty to protect their people?
The incentive has been created now for European leaders to fear upsetting the EUHRC and being accused (even an empty accusation causes damage) at the expense of Europeans.
@Sylvia O’Regan: He wasn’t accused of it, though? The report was filed against the 11 crew members of the patrol boat. He was accused of criminal inaction. If this happened under his watch as prime minister, with his role in the whole thing currently unclear, it should definitely be investigated to get to the bottom of what happened – homicide or not.
His reputation matters a lot less to me than justice for the people that were killed; if he did nothing wrong I’m sure the Maltese justice system will exonerate him. If you’re suggesting he shouldn’t be thoroughly investigated just because you want to give out about the EUHRC, then I just don’t understand your logic.
@ihcalaM: No, I’m not suggesting he should be above the law at all. And I don’t care about his reputation. For all I know, he may be a tyrant. I’d probably have said the same as you if it hadn’t been for the comment by the EUHRC that the people who were sent back to Libya must be trafficked again back to Europe. That made it seem like the rest of it was a cover to send an ideological message, because it didn’t fit the straightforward narrative.
I might be reading too much into it, but that’s my logic. If I am reading too much into the motives then the straight reading of the situation that you’ve stated sounds perfectly valid.
What a farce . How about they get hold of the people smugglers who put 55 people in a dingy and charged them for it putting their lives at risk .
@Robert Preston: Yes, that should definitely be done but they should also arrest those responsible for cutting the cables to the engine on the boat leaving all the occupants adrift
@Dara O’Brien: I understand that But when you stick 55 people in a small dingy and head out to sea there is a lot of risk involved and at some stage you must know there is a good chance the dingy could capsize and you are at risk of drowning
@Dara O’Brien: You realise that there is a limit to the number of these migrants Europe can take in & that during the current pandemic that number is probably close to zero.
Africa’s problems need to be solved by Africans. Same applies to Asia. Places like Malta, Southern Italy, Greece & Cyprus are at the forefront of this problematic issue. We are well removed from it. We should therefore be slow to take the moral high ground.
@Dara O’Brien: or do you realise the PM had f all to do with it. Sick of the crap
@Dara O’Brien: You seem to have already assumed that the naval personnel are guilty of cutting the engine cables.
It could have just as easily have been the boats occupants that cut the cables in an effort to force the Maltese to take them onboard their craft and land them in Malta.
Guilt or Innocence is for the evidence provided in a court that will decide which.
@TL55: This is TheJournal.ie and for now in her passing days you could be a little more compassionate instead of blurbing actual facts on here. Did you not get the memo. FFS!
@Dara O’Brien: allegedly
Anyone who arrives illegally in EU should be banned from ever getting a visa ,
It Kills the business model
That’s how australia stopped the boats and deaths at sea
@Sk19: EUROPE IS 1 LAND MASS,.
They must be mental.
Rip to these and the rest that don’t make it.
It’s like a back door to Europe.
This is the begining of the migrant season too so expect more of these stories more frequently as the weather improves in these areas.
Cables on this boat were not necessarily cut by these officers, I can’t see why they would actually board the boat or risk themselves to try reach into another boat . We can assume the officers would be keen to keep a distance.
The people in the boat could very well have cut the cables so they would be towed ashore and then made landfall.
All we know is that there are a lot of people paying a lot of people a lot of money to risk a lot of lives to get into the EU like this every year.
They know the risks.
The UN and EU who encourages the absolutely dangerous journey from the North of Africa towards Europe has much more blood on their hands but of course they will never get sentenced will they.
Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese journalist, writer, and anti-corruption activist, murdered.
@herp: Why does her nationality come into it?
He’s got form alright.
have your say