Donations pour in for arrested captain of humanitarian rescue ship
Carola Rackete is facing a prison term after her ship rammed an Italian police motorboat.
Thousands of people have donated money to cover the legal costs of a German woman arrested after the humanitarian rescue ship she captained docked in Italy in defiance of the country’s anti-migrant interior minister.
German television celebrities had appealed to the public to financially support Carola Rackete, soliciting more than 300,000 euros by early on Sunday.
Rackete was arrested early on Saturday after her ship, the Sea-Watch 3 with 40 rescued migrants on board, rammed an Italian border police motorboat that was blocking Sea-Watch 3’s path to the dock in Lampedusa.
No one was injured but the motorboat’s side was damaged.
If convicted, the 31-year-old risks up to 10 years in prison.
She also risks a fine as high as 50,000 euros under a law cracking down on private rescue vessels.
