O deputy prime minister and Italian Infrastructure Minister said on Saturday (14) that he risks 15 years in prison for “defending Italy”, in a hearing on the case of migrants rescued by Open Arms, in which he heard accusations from former government colleagues.
Matteo Salvini is accused of “kidnapping” 147 migrants rescued on board a ship operated by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, who was denied disembarkation, as part of its closed ports policy, in August 2019.
Open Arms spent nearly three weeks at sea after Salvini refused to give him permission to dock on the island of Lampedusa.
“Today I am in Palermo for the umpteenth time, in the 'bunker' of Ucciardone prison, famous for the biggest trial against the mafia, for the Open Arms trial”, wrote Salvini on Facebook.
“I risk 15 years in prison for defending Italy and its borders, saving lives and ensuring that the law is respected,” said the leader of the League party.
The now deputy prime minister of the Government headed by Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, was at the time Minister of the Interior in the first of two coalition governments led by Giuseppe Conte.
Conte, now leader of the 5 Star Movement (M5S), the former Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio They were called as witnesses at today's hearing and left testimony that Salvini acted without reporting his actions to the other members of the executive.
Di Maio said that “everything that was done in that period (by Salvini) was to gain popularity” and that decisions regarding his closed ports policy were not taken with the agreement of the remaining members of the government at the time.
“Most of the time, we learned about Salvini’s refusal to indicate a safe port (for a ship) from media reports and his subsequent statements,” said Di Maio.
Last year, Salvini was cleared in a similar case concerning rescued migrants who were stranded on the Gregoretti coast guard ship in July 2019.
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