Decision of the Judge for preliminary hearing of the Court of Trapani No. 1129 of 9 November 2016

The Judge for preliminary hearing of the Court of Catania declared that the witness given by irregular migrants in the proceeding against the person they accused of migrant smuggling (Article 13 of legislative decree No. 286 of 1998) could not be utilized as an evidence, because of non-respect of the migrants’ rights to defense. This, because those migrants were susceptible to be indicted for the offense of irregular entry in Italy under Article 10 of legislative decree No. 286. Concerning the merits of the case, the accused was acquitted, because the evidence had been reached in the proceeding that the migrant smugglers were other people, who had forced him by violence to drive the boat towards Italian coast. The conduct of the accused was therefore justified by a state of necessity.