Pia Klemp, a 35 year old German boat captain, is facing up to 20 years in prison for rescuing refugees who were drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Klemp is accused by authorities in Italy, for “assisting in illegal immigration,” and if convicted, she will serve her sentence in an Italian prison.
Klemp works with a charity called Sea-Watch that conducts rescue missions for people who are stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. The vast majority of the people who are rescued in these missions are refugees coming from Africa and the Middle East.
However, the charges against her claim that she coordinated with smugglers to collect migrants at rendezvous points, and that the “rescue” missions were just a deception to avoid legal charges, for what was actually an elaborate smuggling operation.
Klemp denies the charges against her and insists that her actions to save people from distress were totally legal according to international law.
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