Civil society group Repubblika said on Sunday it would withdraw its criminal complaint against the Armed Forces of Malta P52 group accused of sabotaging a migrant boat if an inquiry is ordered into the matter.
In a statement on Sunday evening, it referred to a Times of Malta report stating that the crew of an Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat denied they had sabotaged the vessel.
An NGO that monitors the presence of migrant boats in the Mediterranean, Alarm Phone, last week claimed that a boat of migrants had been attacked at sea by Maltese personnel.
Repubblika noted that since the allegation was made 10 days ago, it was only now that there was the first denial of wrongdoing. Although this did not, in itself, close the matter, there were now at last two sides to the story.
All people who acted within the law deserved to be cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing so the government should order an inquiry to establish the facts, something it should have done immediately, it said.
An inquiry would look at what happened on the boat, what orders were given and what decisions were taken on shore.
Should such an inquiry be ordered, Repubblika said it would withdraw its criminal complaint against the P52 until all facts were established.
It said it had waited six days before filing a police report calling for an investigation. The government misrepresented this as an act of treason and of betrayal to all members of the armed forces. “This is a lie,” Repubblika said.
It said that the silence on the matter by the government and the army command combined with Sunday’s statement by the P52 crewmen’s lawyer raised the suspicion that there may have been wrongdoing which would not be uncovered if only the crewmen were investigated.
Repubblika said that it was the unbearable silence of the government and the army command that had placed undue pressure on the P52 crewmen.
It said that, at this point, however, it saw no reason to consider revising its position about its complaint against the prime minister and the army chief for their decision not to save people in distress at sea.
Earlier in April the government decided to close the country's ports due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later accused NGOs who operate sea rescue services of "facilitating human trafficking".
“The fact they have taken that decision is publicly known. And the fact that 12 people in another boat Malta knew of and did nothing to help rescue died at sea is also known. Only a criminal investigation can help us reach justice in this case.”
Repubblika said its appeal to the government remained the same. Lives of people in distress at sea had to be saved always.
“We call on the government to abandon its policy of refusing to save people at sea and to refuse to allow their rescuers to bring them to our shores. All lives matter,” it said.