Sea Watch 3 Police obtain a copy of the reporters’ film on migrant rescue

The mobile police squad of Reggio Calabria insisted on the copy on the instruction of the Prosecutor – a practice at the limit of correctness

It was debatable but it appears legal even if at the limit of correctness, the procedure on the basis of which on the 9th June 2018 the Prosecutor of Reggio Calabria obtained from journalists aboard Sea Watch 3 a copy of their filming in the preceding days during a migrant rescue operation conducted in international waters. The police made copies leaving the original filming to the journalists without imposing any limitation on their publication.

Initially the journalists refused to hand over the videos. The police insisted and Butera and his German colleagues realised that faced with their refusal the police would have confiscated the videos. “The police – Butera told Ossigeno – made it clear to me that if I hadn’t handed over the videos they would have confiscated the computer.”

RDM