Charity demands return of seized rescue ship as court hearing begins

Aid group denies it had contact with Libyan smugglers after Italy took possession of the vessel

Jugend Rettet's the Iuventa was seized in August on the island of Lampedusa (AFP)

A German charity whose refugee rescue ship was seized by Italian authorities have denied the ship had contact with Libyan smugglers.

The Berlin-based aid organisation, Jugend Rettet (Youth to the Rescue), is challenging the seizure of the rescue ship at a court in Trapani in proceedings that began on Tuesday.

The charity has requested the immediate release of its ship and called for charges against the organisation and its crew members to be dropped.

In a statement to The Independent, it demanded "those responsible for this despicable smear campaign publicly apologise to those who have been endangered by their actions".

A police officer standing next to the Iuventa rescue ship in Lampedusa (AFP/Getty)

The Iuventa was seized on the island of Lampedusa in early August after it was ordered to take rescued migrants to shore there and its crew were then interviewed by the police.

Ambrogio Cartosio, the public prosecutor in the case, said there was evidence some crew members had contact with smugglers during a rescue in September and two others in June.

He said migrants were "handed over" to the crew by smugglers instead of being "rescued", before they were later transferred to other ships to be taken ashore in Italy.

“The evidence is serious,” Mr Cartosio said at the time. “We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat’s crew.”

Iuventa rescue ship carrying migrants (AFP/Getty Images)

However, he stressed there was no evidence of Jugend Rettet receiving money from Libyan traffickers and no indication of a wider conspiracy between the two groups.

“My personal conviction was that the motive is humanitarian, exclusively humanitarian,” Mr Cartosio said.

“It would be fantasy to say there was a coordinated plan between the NGOs and the Libyan traffickers.”

Italian police released images which appeared to show a rigid-inflatable boat from the Iuventa towing an empty wooden boat back into Libyan waters on 18 June.

Volunteers later came into close proximity with a boat containing smugglers who were removing the engine from a dinghy packed with migrants.

The smugglers were again apparently filmed in close proximity to the refugee rescue ship on 26 June.

Jugend Rettet has denied the allegations and challenged the seizure of the Iuventa.

The judge is expected to make a decision on whether the capture of the ship was legal on Friday.