European court rules Italy not liable for Libyan Coast Guard actions in fatal 2017 boat sinking
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/06/2025 (184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Italy couldn’t be held liable for the actions of the Libyan Coast Guard, rejecting a case brought by a group of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in a fatal boat sinking in 2017.
The court in Strasbourg, France, declared the case inadmissible, finding Italy didn’t have “effective control” of the expanse of waters off the coast of Tripoli where the small ship carrying around 150 people sank.
Twenty people died in the sinking. Around 45 survivors onboard the ship said they were taken to Tajura Detention Center in Tripoli where they were beaten and abused.
The judges found that the captain and crew of the Libyan vessel Ras Jadir had acted independently when they answered a distress signal in the early morning hours on Nov. 6, 2017.
Italy has supplied the Libyans with funding, vessels and training as part of an agreement to slow the numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The judges found, however, that this support didn’t prove that “Italy had taken over Libya’s public-authority powers.”
A group of migrants was rescued by the humanitarian organization Sea Watch and were taken to Italy.
A ruling in favor of the 14 survivors who filed the complaint at the ECHR could have undermined international agreements made by several European Union countries with Libya, Turkey and others to prevent migrants from coming to European shores.
The ECHR handles complaints against the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. The intergovernmental organization isn’t an EU institution and was set up after World War II to promote peace and democracy.
Libya isn’t a member of the Council of Europe, so the court has no jurisdiction over the country’s actions.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration