Berlin, 5 November 2026. One year ago, 13 civilian search and rescue organisations cut all operational contact with the Libyan rescue coordination centre in Tripoli, thereby founding the Justice Fleet Alliance. Since then, their rescue ships were blocked 12 times by the Italian government, amounting to more than 300 days of lost operational time. However, Italian courts confirm the alliance’s approach: six times, Italian courts set the ships free again shortly after their detention. Six additional blockades are under judicial procedure at the moment, and the alliance is awaiting their verdicts. While some legal proceedings are still ongoing, none has resulted in a final ruling against Justice Fleet members.

Twelve detentions, more than 300 days of blockade

Between November 2025 and September 2026, Italian authorities blocked Justice Fleet vessels twelve times, including the Aurora, Humanity 1, Humanity 2, Louise Michel, Mediterranea, Sea Punk I, Sea-Watch 5, and Trotamar III. Reasons included their non-communication with the Libyan rescue coordination center (JRCC) as well as the Tunisian National Guard, not abiding by orders of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, not reaching the assigned port of safety due to too little fuel capacities as well as disembarkation of rescued persons in a closer port of safety than the faraway port assigned. The detentions kept rescue ships out of action for over 300 days, with fines of up to €10,000, while the Central Mediterranean recorded its deadliest first quarter of the year in a decade.

7 of the 12 blockades were imposed due to the ship’s non-communication with the JRCC. In this way, rescue crews were punished for not communicating with Libyan authorities or not obeying orders of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard: EU-funded militias that were behind most of the 107 acts of extreme violence at sea documented since 2016. In 2025 alone, they forced more than 27,000 people back to Libya. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that returning migrants to Libya exposed them to a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment. Libya has also not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, and the UN has extensively documented serious human rights violations against migrants and refugees in the country.

“Italy demands that we leave the people we rescue in the hands of the militias who shoot at them and drag them back into detention, torture, and extortion. We refuse to do so, and the courts agree with us. We will not become accomplices to crimes against humanity. A government that ignores its own courts is deliberately undermining the rule of law, and Italy is sabotaging the law of the sea. The Piantedosi decree must go, and Europe must stop funding the so-called Libyan Coast Guard,” says Giulia Messmer, spokesperson for the Justice Fleet.

The Justice Fleet wins in court

Court rulings speak a clear language: six out of the 12 times, Italian courts quickly set detained ships free again by interim measures. The other six detentions imposed are under judicial procedure at this time; the search and rescue organizations are awaiting their decisions on the merits. Recently, the court of Naples ruled the last Sea-Watch 5 detention to be unlawful, stating that rescue crews cannot be sanctioned for disobeying unlawful instructions. In July, the court of Ortona court declared the detention of the vessel Humanity 1 as unlawful, declaring it “absolutely impossible” to consider Libya a place of safety for migrants and refugees. Courts in Agrigento, Catania, and Chieti suspended detentions and fines against Aurora, Mediterranea, Sea-Watch 5, and Trotamar III, in the months before.