The magisterial inquiry investigating claims that the crew of a Maltese patrol boat sabotaged a migrant boat continued on Tuesday, with Magistrate Joe Mifsud interviewing members of the army's air wing at Safi.
The inquiry was sparked by a criminal complaint filed by civil society NGO Repubblika, which asked the police to investigate the crew of the P52 for attempted homicide.
In a separate complaint, the NGO asked the police to investigate Prime Minister Robert Abela and AFM commander Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi, for murder.
On Friday, Abela confirmed that he and the 12 members of the AFM had been placed under a criminal inquiry. He blasted Repubblika for attacking soldiers who often risk their lives to save migrants at sea. Abela also blamed the Opposition over the complaints over the fact that Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi was one of the four laywers who signed the criminal complaints.
On Sunday, Repubblika said it was willing to withdraw the complaints if an inquiry is launched into the claims, which were first made by NGO Alarm Phone. It noted, however, that the army had not officially denied the claims. The lawyer representing the soldiers, Herman Mula, said the AFM personnel will be exonerated of all wrongdoing.
Alarm Phone had quoted migrants who were among the 66 rescued last week that Maltese soldiers had boarded their boat and cut off the engine cables. It was also claimed that one soldier told the migrants that none of them would be brought to Malta. The claims were reproduced by international media outlets.
The group was eventually transferred onto the AFM vessel and brought to Malta.
Times of Malta reported that Repubblika submitted new evidence which directly contradicted the sabotage claims. The NGO has apparently told the courts that the soldiers had instructed the migrant who was manning the outboard engine to pull the kill switch. The procedure is standard procedure during rescues.
It is believed that the new information will clear the AFM personnel of the sabotage claims. Magistrate Mifsud has reportedly already spoken to the crew of the P52.
The magisterial inquiry is in possession of aerial footage taken by an AFM airplane during the said operation
While the AFM has not released any official comment about the alleged incident, it said last week that it had been involved in a number of operations and its maritime and air assets have taken part in a number of operations at sea.
The government has closed the ports to migrant and NGO rescue vessels. It has also said that Malta can no longer guarantee that it will be able to perform rescues at sea since most of the country's resources are being used to combat the spread of Covid-19. Several NGOs and academics have called on the government to reverse its decision and to rescue migrants in distress.