Sea rescue should not be criminalized: German gov't

Reacting to the recent arrest of the German captain of a Mediterranean rescue ship, the German government said it opposed the "criminalization of sea rescue workers," deputy government spokeswoman Martina Fietz said here on Monday.

"If there are concrete accusations by the Italian authorities, they must be clarified as soon as possible and in accordance with the rule of law," Fietz said.

On Saturday, Italian police arrested German captain Carola Rackete after she had entered the port of Lampedusa with her ship Sea-Watch 3 despite an explicit ban by the Italian government.

Rackete, who works for the humanitarian aid organization Sea-Watch, was placed under house arrest and her ship was confiscated by the Italian authorities.

Rackete had 40 migrants on board her ship, who had been rescued from the waters off the coast of Libya. She had waited two weeks at sea to moor in Italy before entering the port without permission last week.

As for the refugees on the ship, government spokeswoman Fietz affirmed that Germany was prepared to accept "a certain number" and expected the same from other EU countries.

German Federal Development Minister Gerd Mueller has called for a rapid response from the EU to the arrest, arguing that Rackete had acted "in an absolute emergency."

"I therefore expect Brussels to send a clear signal and demand her immediate release," Mueller told the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse.

The Italian authorities accused Rackete of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, violating the law of the sea and resisting state authority because she had allegedly resisted instructions from military ships.

The Italian government has said it could impose a penalty of up to 50,000 euros (57,000 U.S. dollars) for the unauthorized entry of the Sea-Watch 3 in an Italian port.

The German captain justified her decision to force a docking with the "desperate situation" on board and the concern that migrants could jump overboard to their deaths.

The Italian government, however, has said it would not allow NGO ships to dock in Italy if there is no certainty that the migrants would be distributed to other European Union (EU) member states.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said that there had been contacts between diplomats and ministers from Germany and Italy to find a solution.

According to the German government, there had also been contacts between the delegations of the two countries during the EU summit in Brussels on Monday.

Following the news about the arrest of the German sea captain, German television presenters Jan Boehmermann and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf have published a video calling for donations to the humanitarian aid organization Sea-Watch.

By Monday morning, the two German TV presenters had collected more than 750,000 euros for Sea-Watch, according to their donation website.

Commenting on the appeal for donations, government spokeswoman Fietz said it was "a valuable contribution by civil society" to stand behind the sea rescue workers.