Italy’s public prosecutor has demanded a six-year prison term for Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Lega party leader Matteo Salvini for allegedly having prevented the disembarkation of migrants.
According to the prosecutor, Salvini is guilty on charges of kidnapping and refusal to perform his duties after a Spanish ship belonging to the NGO Open Arms charity brought migrants to Lampedusa, in 2019.
Salvini said he was outraged by the demand which, if implemented, could render him disqualified from holding public office.
A verdict in the trial, which began in October 2021, could come in October, according to the BBC.
“Six years in prison for stopping landings and defending Italy and Italians? Madness. Defending Italy is not a crime and I will never give in. Not now, not ever,” he said.
In January this year, Salvini testified that he had understood that “the situation [on the ship] was not at risk”, the BBC stated.
6 anni di carcere per aver bloccato gli sbarchi e difeso l’Italia e gli Italiani? Follia.
Difendere l’Italia non è un reato e io non mollo, né ora né mai. pic.twitter.com/auWMYHBqsM— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) September 14, 2024
His decision at the time caused the NGO vessel to be stuck at sea for 19 days. After an inspection on board by the then prosecutor, magistrates ordered the urgent disembarkation of the remaining 89 refugees, after many had already allowed off the boat.
As interior ministry, Salvini had enforced a Closed Ports Policy, meaning the closure of Italian ports to migrant transport ships operated by NGOs.
He had argued that such vessels encouraged illegal immigration and placed an undue burden on Italy. Under this policy, several boats were stranded at sea for days or weeks before being allowed to dock or redirected to other countries.
Salvini’s deterrence strategy was similar to Australia’s No Way policy, and it made clear that anyone attempting to cross the Mediterranean illegally would be denied entry to Italy, regardless of their status.
In November 2019, prosecutors requested to initiate preliminary investigations into Salvini. They claimed he had failed in his obligations to rescue people at sea and Salvini’s act of denying the disembarkation was seen as an “administrative” decision, not a political one. That made the decision to block the migrants an individual one, not shared with other members of the government.
On May 26, 2020, the Senate’s Immunities Committee rejected the request to proceed against Salvini but in July 30 that year, the Senate approved it with 149 votes in favour and 141 against, paving the way for the politician to stand trial.
Following the Senate’s green light, the Palermo Prosecutor’s Office pressed for Salvini’s indictment.
The trial, which spanned two years, featured testimony from several prominent political figures, including former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, former foreign minister Luigi Di Maio, and current interior minister Matteo Piantedosi.
The tribunal also approved testimony from US actor Richard Gere, who had boarded the Open Arms’ rescue ship to witness the migrants’ conditions first hand, although Gere ultimately had to withdraw from testifying due to filming commitments.
In a video published on social media, Salvini gave his point of view about what happened.
Italian authorities have fined NGO Doctors Without Borders €3,330 and detained its ship, the Geo Barents, for 60 days after it brought 191 migrants to Italy. https://t.co/mdK0sqpihx
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 28, 2024
“On August 1, it [the NGO ship] manages to intercept a boat with illegal immigrants on board. From that moment, it begins to sail through the Mediterranean picking up more illegal immigrants and heading towards Italy. On August 20, it arrives off the coast of Sicily with 164 illegal immigrants on board,” Salvini said.
“In the preceding days, it had stubbornly refused every request for help, assistance, or disembarkation at ports other than Italian ones. They said no to Tunisia, they said no to Malta, they even said no to the flag state, namely Spain. More than 20 days of sailing in the Mediterranean while holding all these illegal immigrants on board when it would have taken just 72 hours to reach Spain.
“This Spanish ship refused, not once, but twice to disembark the illegal immigrants at two ports made available by Spain and even refused the aid of a military ship sent by the Spanish Government.
“During the Mediterranean journey of the Open Arms, we always rescued and disembarked sick people, pregnant women, and minors on board,” Salvini continued.
“Together with my government colleagues, I had signed the ban on entering Italian territorial waters. Thanks to my government’s actions, landings, deaths, and disappearances in the Mediterranean Sea decreased.
“In the year before I took office, there had been 42,700 illegal landings. During my tenure at the Ministry of the Interior, arrivals were reduced to 8,691. After me, unfortunately, the landings went back up, exceeding 21,000 in the same period.
“This Spanish ship was never prevented from going anywhere, except to Italy because we could no longer be the refugee camp for all of Europe. No government and no minister in history has ever been accused or put on trial for defending the borders of his own country,” the Deputy PM concluded.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose government includes Salvini and his League party, said she supported Salvini.
“It is incredible that a minister of the Italian Republic risks six years in prison for doing his job defending the nation’s borders, as required by the mandate received from its citizens,” she said on X.
She called the demand “a dangerous precedent” and offered her “total solidarity with minister Salvini”.
Open Arms on the other hand, supported the demand by the prosecution. “We hope for justice,” the NGO stated in reaction on X.
“We firmly believe that saving lives at sea is a legal and moral obligation, as established by international laws and conventions. Saving lives is never a crime!”
The so-called European "rule of law" has been perverted into a perpetual justification for open borders, turning a blind eye towards those who facilitate mass immigration (Baerbock's visa policy, NGOs as human traffickers) and punishing those who want to stop it (Salvini, Orban). https://t.co/5AnhOpPlUn
— Ralph Schoellhammer (@Raphfel) September 15, 2024
