The case caused a stir in August 2019 and could well send Matteo Salvini, its main leader, to prison. On Saturday, September 14, prosecutors requested a six-year prison sentence for the man who is now Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and who was, at the time of the events, Minister of the Interior. He is accused of having prevented 147 migrants, crammed for nineteen days on a ship belonging to the NGO Open Arms, from disembarking in Italy.
Matteo Salvini, who is part of the coalition of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has been on trial since October 2021 for deprivation of liberty and abuse of power. “The prosecution has requested that former Interior Minister Salvini be sentenced to six years in prison,” Open Arms’ lawyer Arturo Salerni told AFP as the proceedings drew to a close. A verdict is expected next month, he added.
Three weeks at sea
In August 2019, the ship of Open Arms, a Spanish NGO, was stuck at sea for nearly three weeks before the migrants were finally allowed by the courts to disembark on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Members of Open Arms had assured that the physical and mental state of the migrants had reached a critical point when the sanitary conditions on board had become disastrous, particularly due to an outbreak of scabies. Salvini, leader of the anti-immigration League party and interior minister at the time, had estimated that “the situation was not dangerous” on board the ship.
In 2019, while serving in Giuseppe Conte’s government, he implemented the so-called “closed ports” policy under which Italy refused entry to humanitarian ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean. Much of the trial focused on whether the responsibility for this affair lay with Conte’s government or Matteo Salvini alone.
When summarizing his indictment, prosecutor Geri Ferrara of the Palermo court said: “that a key principle is not debatable: between human rights and the protection of state sovereignty, human rights must prevail.”
“I would do it again if I had to do it again”
Matteo Salvini was not present at the hearing but had previously boasted on Facebook: “I would do it again if I had to do it again: defending the borders against illegal migrants is not a crime.” On X, the President of the Council, Giorgia Meloni, also gave him her support on Saturday: “It is unbelievable that a minister of the Republic risks six years in prison for having done his job in defending the nation’s borders, as required by the mandate he received from his fellow citizens.”
Marine Le Pen also gave her support on Saturday evening, denouncing on X “a real judicial harassment aimed at silencing him.” “We are in solidarity and more than ever at your side Matteo,” she also said, criticizing a sentence “of extreme gravity as the migratory submersion increases everywhere in Europe.”
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