Episode 36: Defending the Iuventa 4 refugee rescuers

In today's episode we speak with Francesca Cancellaro, one of the human rights lawyers representing the Iuventa 4 — four activists on pretrial in Italy after saving over 14,000 lives in the Mediterranean.  Francesca updates us on the pretrial, walks us through some of the many irregularities prolonging it, and explains why the case is so important for the future of activist-led rescue missions.  She also tells us why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor's Office to court over the abandonment and destruction of their ship. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @[email protected] [email protected] Support:  ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Show Notes--- Find more on the Iuventa here: iuventa-crew.org/en Follow them on Twitter: @IuventaCrew  Wanna hear more from the Iuventa 4? Check out Episode 2 with Sascha and Episode 24 with Kathrin of The Civil Fleet podcast.  Also, check out this 2020 lockdown video interview I did with Darius and Hendrik about the Iuventa. Ten former members of the crew were under investigation then. (Ignore my cringy introduction.) Watch it here: bit.ly/3JwCOq4 Read more about the Iuventa on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/3ZFHf7K Ben and Francesca mention Matteo Salvini several times throughout this episode. He is a far-right Italian politician, and at the time the Iuventa was operating, he was the country's Interior Minister.  For more on the No Translation No Justice campaign, see here: bit.ly/3Lo3DOq  Francesca mentions the ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) at one point in the podcast. For more about them, visit: ecchr.eu/en and/or listen to Episode 15 of The Civil Fleet podcast.  For more on the February 26 2023 shipwreck off the coast of Italy, see here: bit.ly/3ZIj8FA Following the shipwreck, Sascha gave this powerful speech in court: bit.ly/3mKgGzG Francesca also mentions Mary Lawlor, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. You can read her recent statement about the criminalisation of the Iuventa 4 here: bit.ly/3JwhVv4 Read how the ship has been left to rot in port and why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor's Office to court over it here: bit.ly/3mIaND1  For more on Carola Rackete — captain of the Sea Watch 3 in 2019 who, after the crew had saved 40 lives in the Mediterranean Sea, entered the port of Lampedusa without permission — read this: bit.ly/3ytzRQG