After four years of litigation: Sea-Eye wins another case against Italy
On October 17th, 2024, the Italian Supreme Administrative Court (‘Consiglio dello Stato’) ruled that the detention order issued by the Port Authority of Olbia against Sea-Eye’s former ship ALAN KURDI in 2020 was unlawful. Sea-Eye e.V. announced hat it would sue for financial damages.
The ALAN KURDI, a former Sea-Eye rescue vessel, was detained in the port of Olbia on October 9th 2020 after authorities found alleged deficiencies during an eight-hour port state control. Spanish and German authorities had previously certified the German-flagged vessel as operational after several weeks in the shipyard. Sea-Eye’s appeal against this decision has now been successful in the second instance.
The judge ruled that only the requirements of the flag state applied to the vessel. The port state, in this case Italy, can only intervene in exceptional cases (e.g. in the event of danger to life and the environment). This has never been the case. The deficiencies found during the inspection did not contradict the safety and classification certificates issued by the German flag state. He also acknowledged the emergency situation created by the rescue of 133 people in distress at sea.
“The Olbia ruling is an important victory for Sea-Eye – and yet it feels like a bitter defeat. The harassment of the ALAN KURDI by the Italian authorities forced us to abandon this vessel, which was so important to us. The ruling now proves that the Italian authorities have been abusing state powers for years to take action against civil sea rescue. We will sue the responsible ministry for financial damages and continue to fight Italy’s repressive policies at sea and in the courts,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.
The ALAN KURDI embarked on its first mission in 2018, becoming the first German-flagged civilian rescue vessel in the Mediterranean. With this ship, Sea-Eye carried out a total of twelve missions in the Mediterranean and saved the lives of 927 people. More than 240 people volunteered on board. Several detentions forced Sea-Eye to give up the ship in 2021.
Sea-Eye has already filed several lawsuits against unlawful detentions – with success: in June, the court in Reggio Calabria declared a 60-day detention of the SEA-EYE 4 from March 2024 to be unlawful. However, judgements are often delayed by several years: there are currently five other cases pending. The court cases involve high costs and additional work for the registered association.
