LIFELINE CAPTAIN HOLDS ONLY COASTAL LICENSE. Malta Today, 2.7.2018: “Claus-Peter Reisch, the captain of the migrant rescue vessel Lifeline, was charged in a Maltese court over the ship's lack of proper registration. He is granted bail as the ship remains impounded by the authorities. The captain of the Lifeline, a migrant rescue vessel that berthed in Malta last Wednesday, has a sea licence that qualifies him to sail boats in coastal waters, at a range of 30 nautical miles, the court heard [...] Taking the witness stand in front of Magistrate Joe Mifsud, police Inspector Mario Haber said Reisch's sea licence was limited to coastal waters. The Lifeline carried out rescue operations on the high seas, way outside the coastal waters of Italy and Malta.
In court, Haber said the ship was registered with a Dutch yacht club. The Dutch authorities had confirmed the Netherlands was not the flag state, as claimed by the captain [...] The court said it would carry out a site inspection of the vessel and appointed experts to survey the ship and its computers [...] The captain has been granted bail against a personal guarantee of €10,000 [...] The ship captain was accused by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of precipitating the Lifeline crisis when he ignored orders from the Rome rescue coordination centre during last week's rescue [...] The court appoints Pierre Zammit Endrich and Martin Bajada to inspect the contents of the vessel and its computers [...] The defence: ‘We aren't ISIS here.’ The prosecution: ‘We haven't excluded this… we cannot exclude adding charges in future.’”
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http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/87932/live_lifeline_captain_taken_to_court_in_malta