The captain of a German NGO's migrant rescue vessel was released on bail Monday after attending a court hearing over the ship's alleged irregular registration, according to one of Lifeline's defense lawyers.

Claus-Peter Reisch captained the Lifeline to Malta on June 27 with 234 migrants on board, after six days in limbo in the Mediterranean Sea owing to a political spat.

A court in Valetta has accused the captain of alleged irregularities regarding the rescue vessel's registration, setting bail at 10,000 euros ($11,600), lawyer Daniel Amato told EFE.

While released on bail, Reisch would not be allowed to leave the island, must present himself to authorities once a week and was ordered to sleep on the boat.

The Lifeline was grounded as a precaution in the meantime while the matter was addressed.

The court ordered a search of the ship and scheduled the next hearing for July 5 at 11:30 am.

After picking up the migrants in the Central Mediterranean, Lifeline was denied docking permission by Italy, but granted it by Malta after an agreement was reached with other European countries to resettle those who were rescued.

While the boat operates under a Dutch flag, the government of the Netherlands said last week the ship was not registered with the country.

The NGO's defense has presented documents showing the vessel was registered at a sailing club as a recreational vessel, which the prosecution said meant it could not be used to conduct rescue operations.

The prosecution has said the only charge pressed against the captain for the moment was the registration irregularity, though it has not ruled out further charges. </s> VALLETTA, Malta — Maltese prosecutors have asked a magistrate to order the confiscation of a migrant rescue ship run by a German aid group.

The German captain of the Lifeline appeared at an arraignment session Monday in Valletta, Malta.

Claus-Peter Reisch, 57, was charged with using the boat in Maltese waters without proper registration or license. That charge also incorporates the allegation of entering Maltese waters illegally.

The Lifeline rescued 234 migrants in waters off Libya, and Malta last week gave the ship safe harbor after diplomatic wrangling and eight other nations agreed to take some of the rescued.

Bail was set at 10,000 euros ($11,600). The captain was ordered to deposit his passport in court and sign in at a police station weekly.

Italy had refused to let the Lifeline dock.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The German captain of a private ship that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea pleaded innocent on Monday to charges that he entered Malta's waters illegally and without proper boat registration.

At an arraignment hearing in the island nation's capital, Valletta, Maltese prosecutors asked a magistrate to order the confiscation of the vessel Lifeline. The boat's crew picked up 234 migrants in waters off Libya last month.

The destination of the rescued passengers became the subject of a dispute among European nations. Malta last week gave the ship safe harbor, but only after Italy and seven other nations agreed to each take some of the migrants.

Several hundred thousand migrants have arrived in Italy after sea rescue in recent years, and its new government refused to let the Lifeline dock. Maltese officials also launched an investigation to determine if the ship's crew violated maritime laws.

"We did the right thing," Lifeline Captain Claus-Peter Reisch after the arraignment, where his bail was set at 10,000 euros ($11,600) and he was ordered to surrender his passport and to report to a police station weekly.

The 57-year-old German was charged with using the boat in Maltese waters without proper registration or license. That charge also incorporates the allegation of entering Maltese waters illegally.

Defense lawyer Cedric Mifsud told reporters this his client and Lifeline appeared to be a "scapegoat" for a wider squabbling by European Union countries over how to manage the flood of migrants to Europe's southern shores.

"What we hope is that this case is not a symptom of the current Mediterranean climate, where governments are closing the EU's borders and targeting rescue NGOs for doing the jobs that governments should be doing," Mifsud said.

As for Malta, he added: "we suspect the Maltese government is picking on the Lifeline incident to make a political statement at (the) Brussels level, that borders need to be closed and that Europe will not tolerate NGOs rescuing refugees out at sea."

Some members of Lifeline's crew turned up at the court wearing T-shirts bearing the word "Save Lives." A white sheet emblazoned with the phrase, "Rescue ships blocked 400 dead" was held outside the courthouse.

The phrase apparently referred to the many migrants who are believed to have drowned in recent days off Libya. Italy and its EU partners say the Libyan coast guard should carry out rescues in its search-and-rescue area. Private aid groups have contended lives were lost because their rescue boat ships either aren't at sea, due to legal woes, like that of the Lifeline, or because Italy's coast guard says those rescues are Libya's responsibility.

The Libyan coast guard itself, already given training and equipment from Italy, says it needs more aid to properly save lives.

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, deputy premier in the government, leads an anti-migrant party. Many in his base associate migrants with crime. He has vowed to let no more aid groups' rescue vessels dock in Italy. </s> VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The German captain of a private ship that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea pleaded innocent Monday to charges that he entered Malta's waters illegally and without proper registration, a case that reflects Europe's heightened determination to keep asylum-seekers from reaching the continent.

At Claus-Peter Reisch's arraignment in the island nation's capital, Valletta, prosecutors also asked a magistrate to order the confiscation of the vessel he directed to Malta, the Lifeline. The boat's crew picked up 234 migrants in waters off Libya last month.

The destination of the rescued passengers became the subject of a dispute among European nations. Malta last week gave the ship safe harbor, but only after Italy and seven other nations, in addition to Malta, pledged to each take some of the migrants.

Several hundred thousand migrants have arrived in Italy after being rescued at sea in recent years, many of them ferried to shore by private rescue boats. The right-wing interior minister in Italy's new, populist government, Matteo Salvini, has vowed that no more such vessels will dock in Italian ports.

The Lifeline, which was operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline, was the second aid boat caught in the Italian crackdown.

On Saturday, a third ship, Open Arms, run by a Spanish aid group, plucked 60 migrants to safety from a dinghy launched by Libya-based human traffickers. Italy and Malta traded jabs about which of the two countries should let Open Arms dock.

In the end, Spain agreed to let the vessel dock in Barcelona. The Open Arms was south of the Italian island of Sardinia Monday, some 300 nautical miles from its destination.

The aid groups say they are determined to save lives.

"We did the right thing," Lifeline Captain Claus-Peter Reisch after the arraignment, where his bail was set at 10,000 euros ($11,600) and he was ordered to surrender his passport and to report to a police station weekly.

The 57-year-old German was charged with using the boat in Maltese waters without proper registration or license. That charge also incorporates the allegation of entering Maltese waters illegally.

If convicted, he could be fined and sentenced to up to 12 months in jail.

Defense lawyer Cedric Mifsud told reporters this his client and the Lifeline appeared to be a "scapegoat" for the squabbling among European Union countries over how to manage the flood of migrants to Europe's southern shores.

"What we hope is that this case is not a symptom of the current Mediterranean climate, where governments are closing the EU's borders and targeting rescue NGOs for doing the jobs that governments should be doing," Mifsud said.

He added that supporters of the rescue ship's crew "we suspect the Maltese government is picking on the Lifeline incident to make a political statement at (the) Brussels level that borders need to be closed."

While tiny Malta has taken in relatively few rescued migrants in the last few years, aid group vessels have taken advantage of the tiny island nation's strategic location between Sicily and Libya to make port calls for fresh supplies or crews.

But the Maltese government declared last week was closing its ports to all humanitarian rescue ships pending the outcome of its investigation of the Lifeline. Officials have said they want to determine if aid groups operate the ships according to national and international laws.

Some members of Lifeline's crew turned up at Valletta's courthouse wearing T-shirts printed with "Save Lives." They held a white sheet emblazoned with the phrase, "Rescue ships blocked. More than 400 dead," outside the courthouse.

The phrase apparently referred to the many migrants who are believed to have drowned in recent days off Libya. Italy and its EU partners have maintained it's the job of the Libyan coast guard to perform rescues in its search-and-rescue area.

Private aid groups contended that lives were lost because their rescue boats either aren't at sea due to legal woes like the Lifeline's or because Italy's coast guard says those rescues are Libya's responsibility.

The Libyan coast guard, already given training, motorboats and equipment from Italy, says it needs more aid to properly save lives. </s> The German captain of a charity-run ship that rescued more than 200 migrants in the Mediterranean in late June has dismissed any wrongdoing after Malta opened legal proceedings against him on Monday.

"Our mission was to save 234 people," Claus-Peter Reisch (pictured) said as he was due to face court on charges of ignoring official Maltese orders and breaking international law. "I'm not aware of having committed any crime."

Reisch is charged with using the boat in Maltese waters without proper registration or license, also incorporating the allegation that he entered Maltese waters illegally.

Reisch was in command of the "Lifeline" when it saved 234 migrants near the Libyan coast on June 21. The vessel, operated by the German charity Mission Lifeline, was able to dock in Malta on June 27 after the Maltese government initially refused to grant it entry.

Police impounded the ship and arrested Reisch upon arrival. On Monday, prosecutors called on the judge to order the ship's confiscation.

The court set bail at €10,000 euros, with Reisch ordered to deposit his passport with the court.

. Read more: Malta, Italy migrant spat leaves German rescue ship in limbo

 

 The German government has offered Reisch diplomatic aid during the process.

German comedian Jan Böhmermann has also offered his support, calling on people to donate money to a crowdfunding site to help finance Reisch's legal costs.

"In the first 3 days, more than 4,000 fans of the rule of law pooled together €83,000 [$97,000] for the [legal] defense and other legal costs for the Mission Lifeline team!" he wrote on Twitter.

Lifeline was the second migrant rescue ship to be refused docking rights in June. At the beginning of the month, the Aquarius, a French ship with more than 630 migrants on board, was forced to dock in Spain after Italy and Malta refused to grant it entry.

Mission Lifeline spokesman Ruben Neugebauer at the time claimed that Maltese threats to take legal action against Reisch constituted "part of the criminalization of NGO activities" by European governments.

The influx of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East has caused an anti-migrant backlash across the European Union.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing an uncertain future amid a dispute with her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, who has demanded that police reject certain refugees at the German border.

Speaking on Monday, Reisch accused EU countries of working harder to hinder rescue operations in the Mediterranean than trying to save lives.

"The EU accepts the dying for political reasons," he said. "It's repulsive."

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The German captain of a private ship that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea pleaded innocent Monday to charges that he entered Malta's waters illegally and without proper registration, a case that reflects Europe's heightened determination to keep asylum-seekers from reaching the continent.

At Claus-Peter Reisch's arraignment in the island nation's capital, Valletta, prosecutors also asked a magistrate to order the confiscation of the vessel he directed to Malta, the Lifeline. The boat's crew picked up 234 migrants in waters off Libya last month.

The destination of the rescued passengers became the subject of a dispute among European nations. Malta last week gave the ship safe harbor, but only after Italy and seven other nations, in addition to Malta, pledged to each take some of the migrants.

Several hundred thousand migrants have arrived in Italy after being rescued at sea in recent years, many of them ferried to shore by private rescue boats. The right-wing interior minister in Italy's new, populist government, Matteo Salvini, has vowed that no more such vessels will dock in Italian ports.

The Lifeline, which was operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline, was the second aid boat caught in the Italian crackdown.

On Saturday, a third ship, Open Arms, run by a Spanish aid group, plucked 60 migrants to safety from a dinghy launched by Libya-based human traffickers. Italy and Malta traded jabs about which of the two countries should let Open Arms dock.

In the end, Spain agreed to let the vessel dock in Barcelona. The Open Arms was south of the Italian island of Sardinia Monday, some 300 nautical miles from its destination.

The aid groups say they are determined to save lives.

"We did the right thing," Lifeline Captain Claus-Peter Reisch after the arraignment, where his bail was set at 10,000 euros ($11,600) and he was ordered to surrender his passport and to report to a police station weekly.

The 57-year-old German was charged with using the boat in Maltese waters without proper registration or license. That charge also incorporates the allegation of entering Maltese waters illegally.

If convicted, he could be fined and sentenced to up to 12 months in jail.

"I don't think I have done anything unlawful. I saved 234 lives and assisted in two other rescue operations" with Mission Lifeline, Reisch said.

"Out at sea, women, men and children are dying. I didn't see the pictures of drowned bodies in the newspaper. I saw it with my own eyes," he added. "So when politicians say this should be stopped, maybe they should join us for one trip."

Defense lawyer Cedric Mifsud told reporters this his client and the Lifeline appeared to be a "scapegoat" for the squabbling among European Union countries over how to manage the flood of migrants to Europe's southern shores.

"What we hope is that this case is not a symptom of the current Mediterranean climate, where governments are closing the EU's borders and targeting rescue NGOs for doing the jobs that governments should be doing," Mifsud said.

He added that supporters of the rescue ship's crew "we suspect the Maltese government is picking on the Lifeline incident to make a political statement at (the) Brussels level that borders need to be closed."

While tiny Malta has taken in relatively few rescued migrants in the last few years, aid group vessels have taken advantage of the tiny island nation's strategic location between Sicily and Libya to make port calls for fresh supplies or crews.

But the Maltese government declared last week was closing its ports to all humanitarian rescue ships pending the outcome of its investigation of the Lifeline. Officials have said they want to determine if aid groups operate the ships according to national and international laws.

Some members of Lifeline's crew turned up at Valletta's courthouse wearing T-shirts printed with "Save Lives." They held a white sheet emblazoned with the phrase, "Rescue ships blocked. More than 400 dead," outside the courthouse.

The phrase apparently referred to the many migrants who are believed to have drowned in recent days off Libya. Italy and its EU partners have maintained it's the job of the Libyan coast guard to perform rescues in its search-and-rescue area.

Private aid groups contended that lives were lost because their rescue boats either aren't at sea due to legal woes like the Lifeline's or because Italy's coast guard says those rescues are Libya's responsibility.

The Libyan coast guard, already given training, motorboats and equipment from Italy, says it needs more aid to properly save lives.

In comments to journalists, Reisch, the Lifeline's captain, questioned the Libyan coast guard's competence and professionalism. "Their ships are carrying neither lifejackets nor medical containers" (kits). </s> Rome, June 22 - The Italian port authority on Friday made a formal request for Malta to allow the NGO-run migrant-rescue ship Lifeline to dock at a port on the Mediterranean island, government sources said. The Dutch-flagged ship, run by German NGO Mission Lifeline, may be set to be at the centre of an international wrangle like that which involved another NGO-run migrant-rescue vessel, the Aquarius, which ended up docking in Valencia last week after Italy and Malta refused it access to ports. Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli on Thursday accused the Lifeline of "operating in Libyan waters outside all rules, outside international law" after it took on 224 asylum seekers. He called on Malta to meet Italy's request and warned that the vessel would be impounded if it does not go to Malta. "If the Lifeline NGO ship does not go to the port of Malta, which it should and must do out of a sense of humanity and out of respect for the law of the sea, it will be sequestered at once," Toninelli told Tgcom24. "As an Italian citizen, as the minister of infrastructure and transport, and as a European citizen, I would be shocked at the inhumanity of Malta if it did not receive the ship. "Malta is currently the nearest and safest port". Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday that the Lifeline should go to the Netherlands. The Netherlands denied reports that the Lifeline and another NGO-run migrant-rescue ship, the Seefuchs, are sailing under Dutch flags. However, on Friday Mission Lifeline said in a tweet that its ship has been registered in the Netherlands since September 2017, attaching a photograph of a registration document. It also said Thursday's rescue operation took place in international waters. Salvini said for "the safety of the crew and passengers" Italy had asked Malta to open its ports. "It is clear that the ship will then have to be impounded and the crew members arrested. No more trafficking by sea," he added. Salvini, who is also deputy premier and League leader, has spearheaded the tough stance on migrants and NGOs operating humanitarian missions in the Mediterranean of the new League/5-Star Movement (M5S) government. </s> Rome, June 22 - The Italian port authority on Friday made a formal request for Malta to allow the NGO-run migrant-rescue ship Lifeline to dock at a port on the Mediterranean island, government sources said. The Dutch-flagged ship, run by German NGO Mission Lifeline, may be set to be at the centre of an international wrangle like that which involved another NGO-run migrant-rescue vessel, the Aquarius, which ended up docking in Valencia last week after Italy and Malta refused it access to ports. Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli on Thursday accused the Lifeline of "operating in Libyan waters outside all rules, outside international law" after it took on 224 asylum seekers. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the Lifeline should go to the Netherlands. On Thursday the Netherlands denied reports that the Lifeline and another NGO-run migrant-rescue ship, the Seefuchs, are sailing under Dutch flags. However, on Friday Mission Lifeline said in a tweet that its ship has been registered in the Netherlands since September 2017, attaching a photograph of a registration document. It also said Thursday's rescue operation took place in international waters. Salvini said for "the safety of the crew and passengers" Italy had asked Malta to open its ports. "It is clear that the ship will then have to be impounded and the crew members arrested. No more trafficking by sea," he added. Salvini, who is also deputy premier and League leader, has spearheaded the tough stance on migrants and NGOs operating humanitarian missions in the Mediterranean of the new League/5-Star Movement (M5S) government. </s> A rescue boat stranded for nearly a week in the Mediterranean with over 200 migrants docked in Malta Wednesday, after a deal was struck between a group of EU states to take them in.

Lifeline, a vessel for the German charity Mission Lifeline, has been waiting to be allocated a port for six days after rescuing 234 migrants off the coast of Libya last Thursday.

The migrants on board will be distributed among eight EU nations who have agreed to take them in, Maltese Prime minister Joseph Muscat said Wednesday.

So far Malta, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and France have agreed to welcome some of the migrants.

Muscat said that after the migrants had disembarked, the Lifeline ship would be impounded in order to carry out an investigation into its legal status and actions on the night of the rescue.

However, Muscat warned that the situation was "unique" and could not be considered a blueprint for handling future rescues.

Mission Lifeline has come under fire from EU leaders who accuse it of contravening international law by rescuing the migrants when the Libyan coastguard was already intervening.

Belgium and Luxembourg said they would each take 15 of the Lifeline migrants. The Netherlands will take 20.

Theo Francken, Belgian minster for asylum and migration, tweeted that Belgium would help Malta but that it must be one-off operation.

Many passengers were suffering from seasickness and three were in the ship's hospital facility, according to Lifeline. One passenger has been evacuated, leaving 233 currently on board.

The eight EU nations agreed to take in a share of those on board after days of bickering over the migrants' fate.

The NGO's co-founder Axel Steier blamed Germany's failure to participate in the deal on the country's hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

Seehofer has taken a strong stance on immigration and given German Chancellor Angela Merkel an ultimatum to curb arrivals to Germany.

Mission Lifeline has hit back at criticism levelled at it by EU leaders.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the charity had contravened "all the rules" by rescuing the migrants when the Libya coastguard was already intervening.

Macron accused Mission Lifeline of "playing into the hands of smugglers".

But the charity denied breaking the law in a statement on Wednesday.

"There have been a number of false accusations that Lifeline ignores orders by different MRCCs (maritime rescue coordination centres)," said Steier.

Lifeline argued the migrants would not be safe in Libya, where they have faced abuse and rape in holding centres, and that returning them there would breach international refugee law.

"The only order the ship denied was to hand over people to the so-called Libyan coastguard, as this would have been not in line with the Geneva Refugee Convention and therefore criminal."

The vessel's fate had been hanging in the balance since last week as bloc members remained at loggerheads over how to handle the influx of people trying to reach the continent.

Malta and Italy initially refused to take in the migrants, but on Tuesday Valletta agreed to let the ship dock when other EU states confirmed they would help.

Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had hailed the news that a second migrant ship he had turned away was being taken in elsewhere.

Earlier this month, Rome rejected the Aquarius ship carrying 630 migrants, forcing it to eventually dock in Spain.

"For women and children really fleeing the war the doors are open, for everyone else they are not!" Salvini tweeted.

The decision by Italy's new hardline government to turn away rescue vessels has plunged Europe into a political crisis over how to collectively handle the huge numbers of people migrating from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Italy and Malta say they are unfairly bearing the brunt of the new arrivals, while other European countries are urging more forceful policies to block their entry.

Sixteen EU leaders held emergency talks in Brussels on Sunday in a bid to break the longstanding deadlock over who should take in the migrants.

A full EU summit is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The captain of MV Lifeline, a German migrant rescue ship that docked in Malta last week with 130 rescued migrants after Italy refused access, makes an initial court appearance in Valletta. He is charged with operating his ship illegally.