Casarini probed in Mare Jonio case

(ANSA) - Lampedusa, march 22 - Activist Luca Casarini, mission chief of the migrant rescue NGO Mediterraneo, has been placed under investigation for his part in the rescue of 50 migrants by the Mare Jonio ship off Libya earlier this week, sources said Friday.
    Casarini has been accused of complicity in suspected crimes already posited against the ship's commander.
    The captain was placed under investigation for favouring illegal immigration and refusing to obey an order from a warship.
    Captain Pietro Marrone is accused of disobeying a command not to bring the migrants into Italian territorial waters.
    "I would do it all again, to save people's lives" Marrone said.
    "What was I supposed to do, let them die?".
    The ship, run by the Rome-based NGO Mediterranea, which is also under investigation, said it rescued the migrants from a sinking boat off Libya.