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Carola Rackete (archive recording)
Photo: TILL M EGEN / SEA-WATCH HANDOUT / EPA-EFE / REX
Italy's judiciary has closed a case against sea rescuer Carola Rackete.
A court had approved the application by the Agrigento public prosecutor's office to drop the investigation against the German sea rescuer.
A spokesman for the aid organization Sea-Watch announced to the AFP news agency.
Rackete was arrested in Italy in June 2019 after she steered the rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 with dozens of refugees on board, contrary to an official ban, into a port on the island of Lampedusa.
At the time, Rackete was accused of resisting a ship belonging to the Italian coast guard during the docking maneuver in Lampedusa.
Three days after her arrest, a court ordered the rescuer's release, arguing that she had saved lives through her actions.
This decision was later followed by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation.
The original case against Rackete, however, remained pending.
With the decision to close the investigation against Carola Rackete, the court in Agrigento, Sicily, "recognized the need to save lives," Rackete's lawyer Salvatore Tesoriero told the Adnkronos news agency.
The case of the German activist attracted attention across Europe two years ago.
As a result, attention was drawn to the rigorous immigration policy of the then Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini from the right-wing extremist Lega party.
In September, Salvini had to answer to court on charges of deprivation of liberty and abuse of office, because in August 2019 he refused entry to the port of Lampedusa for six days for the Spanish rescue ship "Open Arms" with 147 migrants on board.
as / AFP