Six members of an Italian charity which rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea have gone on trial in Sicily, accused of aiding illegal immigration.
The case centres around the Mare Jonio, a ship operated by Mediterranea Saving Humans (MSH), which took 27 migrants off a tanker in 2020 and brought them to Italy.
The migrants had been stranded on the Danish vessel Maersk Etienne for over a month, with both Italy and Malta refusing to accept them.
The defendants include the charity's co-founder Luca Casarini, the ship's captain and three crew members, including a doctor.
Prosecutors allege the rescue was financially motivated, pointing to a €125,000 payment from Maersk to MSH months after the event.
Maersk said in a statement in 2021 that the money had been intended to "cover some of the costs" that the rescue charity faced.
"At no point" was financial compensation discussed during the operation, it stressed.
Maersk also praised MSH for coming to the rescue, saying the tanker's repeated calls for assistance had been ignored by authorities and the situation on board had become "dire from a humanitarian point of view".
MSH described the payment as a "transparent donation".
The defence team said the trial in Ragusa is the first of its kind in Italy.
Previous attempts to prosecute crew members of rescue vessels have ended either before or during preliminary hearings.
Defence lawyer Fabio Lanfranca said the team raised a series of technical objections at the first hearing.
These mainly concerned the use of wiretaps of conversations involving "lawyers, journalists, bishops and even members of parliament".
Fellow lawyer Serena Romano said the team also questioned whether providing medical assistance could be defined as criminal.
The next hearing is set for 13 January.
The hard-right government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office in 2022, vowing to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
It has repeatedly clashed with rescue charities.
Despite admitting that charity boats pick up only a small minority of arrivals, Italy has characterised them as a "pull factor" and has passed laws which work to reduce the time they spend at sea.
