More than 40,000 people have been intercepted in the Mediterranean and taken to detention camps and torture houses under a European migration policy that is responsible for crimes against humanity, according to a legal document asking the International Criminal Court to take the case Monday.
The request filed with the ICC alleges that European Union officials are knowingly responsible for deaths of migrants at land and sea, and their widespread rape and torture at the hands of a Libyan coast guard funded and trained at the expense of European taxpayers.
It names no EU official but cites an ongoing ICC investigation into the fate of migrants in Libya.
Officials with the European Commission, Germany and Spain defended EU policy and efforts to help migrants in Libya.
France dismissed the accusations as "senseless" and lacking "any legal foundations."
"It also failed. Crossings did not decrease as predicted, because the risk had little deterrent effect on those who have little to lose to begin with."
"There are no more entrances or exits."
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said Libya's migrant holding cells "cannot be referred to as torture detention centers."
Borrell, who is maneuvering to become the EU's next foreign policy chief, told reporters in Morocco,
"We are trying all means to help Libya provide migrants with the best possible conditions."
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