Six-year prison sentence requested against Matteo Salvini for refusing to let migrants land in 2019

Italian prosecutors on Saturday called for a six-year prison sentence for Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, for preventing migrants from disembarking at an Italian port in 2019. Mr Salvini, who is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, is on trial for alleged deprivation of liberty and abuse of power for keeping 147 migrants at sea for weeks on a ship run by the charity Open Arms.

“The prosecution has requested that former interior minister Salvini be sentenced to six years in prison”Open Arms lawyer Arturo Salerni told Agence France-Presse as the proceedings neared their conclusion. The verdict in the trial, which began in October 2021, is expected next month, he added.

Mr Salvini was not present at the hearing. He had earlier posted on Facebook: “I would do it again if I had to do it again: defending the borders against illegal migrants is not a crime.” “It is incredible 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.”he added on X.

Disastrous sanitary conditions

When summarizing his indictment, prosecutor Geri Ferrara of the Palermo court considered that:“A key principle is not debatable: between human rights and the protection of state sovereignty, human rights must prevail in our fortunately democratic system”.

The ship remained stuck at sea for nearly three weeks before the migrants were finally allowed by a court to disembark on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Open Arms members had said the migrants’ physical and mental state had reached a critical point when sanitary conditions on board became dire, including due to an outbreak of scabies. Mr Salvini, leader of the anti-immigration League party and interior minister at the time, said in January that he 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 the case lay with Mr Conte’s government or with Mr Salvini alone. He has been prosecuted on a similar charge before, but the charges were dismissed by a court in Catania in 2021.