Italy ship captain convicted after sending migrants to Libya

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — A court in Naples has convicted the captain of an Italian commercial ship that returned 101 migrants to Libya after rescuing them at sea. The court absolved the commander of the most serious charge — abuse of office — but convicted him of abandonment-related charges and sentenced him to a year in prison. That’s according to a copy of the sentence and the Avvenire newspaper of the Italian bishops conference, which has followed the case closely. Human rights groups had denounced the 2018 episode as a possible violation of international law. The U.N. and the European Union do not consider that Libya is a safe port, making the forced return there of refugees a possible violation of their rights.