Prime Minister Robert Abela has admitted commissioning a boat that returned migrants to war-torn Libya on Easter weekend but has insisted it was a rescue mission and not a pushback.
A boat commissioned by Maltese authorities picked up a group of migrants in the search and rescue area earlier this month and returned them to the North African country.
It is a crime under international law for states to return asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to face persecution.
Speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time on Friday, Abela admitted the manoeuvre and defended the government’s actions.
“There was a rescue of migrants. Had the Maltese government not coordinated, tens of lives would have died, because a [EU coastguard] Frontex plane just flew overhead and kept on going.