This archive report was first published on 30 June 2019.
On June 30, 2019, Sea-Watch captain Carola Rackete, 31, was placed under house arrest after being accused of putting a military speedboat and its occupants at risk during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to Rackete, her goal was to bring exhausted and desperate migrants to shore, fearing they would throw themselves into the sea and drown due to their inability to swim.
"The situation was desperate," she said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. "My goal was only to bring exhausted and desperate people to shore. I was scared that migrants would throw themselves into the sea and drown because many did not know how to swim."
Rackete's actions sparked a fund-raising appeal launched by German TV stars Jan Boehmermann and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, who raised over 350,000 euros ($400,000) by midday Sunday.
Boehmermann accused Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of "abusing rescuers at the Mediterranean Sea in order to turn the mood against refugees, against EU, and for an inhumane politics."
Salvini welcomed Rackete's arrest, tweeting "Mission accomplished," and stating that the law-breaking captain had been arrested and the pirate ship seized.
