'The fact does not exist', Salvini acquitted in the Open Arms trial 'Defending the homeland is not a crime' – News

'The fact does not exist'. The Palermo court has acquitted the leader of the League Matteo Salvini of the charges of kidnapping and refusal of official documents at the trial for the affair of the ship of the Spanish NGO Open Arms. According to the accusation, the deputy prime minister and minister of transport, in August 2019, when he held the position of minister of the Interior, unlawfully prevented the crew of the Catalan vessel from disembarking 147 migrants rescued at sea on Lampedusa.

“I'm happy: after three years the League won, Italy wonDefending the homeland is not a crime but a right. I will move forward even more determined than before”, said the deputy prime minister after the acquittal sentence. “Those who thought of using migrants to engage in politics have lost and are returning to Spain with their hands in their pockets”, said Salvini.

He clenches his fists in victory and hugs whoever comes his way. Salvini looks around, looking for Francesca Verdini. She is in tears, she reaches him: and they indulge in a long embrace. The lawyer Giulia Bongiorno is moved. “You were all good,” says Salvini.

For further information ANSA Agency Open Arms: from the rescue to the sentence, the stages of the trial – News – Ansa.it Salvini's standoff against 147 migrants (ANSA)

“Great satisfaction for the acquittal of the vice president and minister Salvini in the Open Arms trial. A judgment that demonstrates how unfounded and surreal the accusations made against him were.” The Prime Minister declared it, Giorgia Meloni.

“Our criticism of the choices of Meloni and Salvini today as yesterday is entirely political and does not change a millimeter because it is on politics that we will beat them. The sentences are always respected, unlike what the right does, and our harsh opposition to the their choices will continue”, said the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein commenting on the Open Arms ruling.

“I just heard it. I'm happy for him, I'm happy for the Italian State. He had the courage to reiterate a principle that seems elementary but which everyone now has to respect in some way”, said the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti.

“There is a judge in Palermo! A hug to Matteo Salvini”. It is the tweet of the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Antonio Tajani. “It's a great day for Italy,” said the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara.

“Justice has prevailed, well done Matteo Salvini, another victory for the Patriots for Europe”. The Hungarian prime minister writes it in X Viktor Orban commenting immediately on the acquittal for the leader of the League.

“The judges are an autonomous power, it is good that all the centre-right forces keep this in mind when they think they are right and when they have a contrary opinion. We take note of this sentence, it must be respected and can be commented on when it is filed. I what I said I said as a witness”, said the leader of the M5s Giuseppe Conte.

“The regret is above all for the people, who, as we said from the first minute, were deprived of their freedom. We are waiting for the judges' reasons, to evaluate whether to appeal the sentence as we also hope for the Public Prosecutor's Office. With this trial, which is unique in Italian and European history, we wanted to restore dignity to the 147 people held on board and deprived of their freedom for 20 days”. As Oscar Campsfounder of the NGO Open Arms.

Applause from the center-right benches, with chants of “Matteo, Matteo”, in the Chamber after the news of Matteo Salvini's acquittal. The House is working on the maneuver. “Okay colleagues, let's move forward. Let's move forward, so to speak”, said vice-president Giorgio Mulè after a very short pause during the applause.

The prosecution was represented in the courtroom by the deputy prosecutor Marzia Sabella and the prosecutors Gery Ferrara and Giorgia Righi who, last September 14th, at the end of the indictment, had asked for Salvini to be sentenced to 6 years in prison. Some of the refugees held on board the Catalan ship were civil parties in the trial, including Legambiente, Arci, the AccoglieRete association, Giuristi Democratici, Ciss, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Cittadinanza Attiva, Oscar Camps, director of the NGO Open Arms , the commander of the ship that was prevented from docking, Reig Creus, and the head of mission Anna Isabel Montes, the Municipality of Barcelona, ​​the Emergency association and Asgi (Association for immigration legal studies). The lawyers of the civil parties have asked for the defendant to be ordered to pay one million euros in compensation for damages. The hearing began on 15 September 2021. 24 hearings were held and 45 witnesses were heard. The Northern League leader is defended by the lawyer Giulia Bongiorno who asked for the acquittal of her client “because the fact does not exist”.

Salvini: 'I enter the courtroom proud, today is a beautiful day'

“I am absolutely proud of what I have done, I have kept the promises I made – said Salvini before entering the bunker room of the Pagliarelli prison -, I have opposed mass immigration. Whatever the sentence, today is a beautiful day for me because I am proud to have defended my country. I would do and do again everything I have done and I am happy with the demonstrations of affection that so many Italians are showing me.

The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, is also in Palermo. “I am here because I am a friend of Matteo Salvini to give him my closeness and solidarity at this moment,” he told ANSA. Also in Palermo were Claudio Durigon, deputy secretary of the League, and the Northern League parliamentarian Alessandro Morelli.

Accusation and defense

THE ACCUSATION
“The migrants rescued by the Open Arms did not have the right to get off because they were sick, but because they were free men. In fact, Salvini is accused of the crime of kidnapping, not of injury. The problem is freedom, not health”, he said during Deputy Prosecutor Marzia Sabella, public prosecutor at the trial, gave brief replies.

“If a cruise ship can constitute a comfortable and yet fun temporary POS – he added – cruise passengers on board who find themselves unable to disembark in the absence of valid reasons are undoubtedly victims of kidnapping”.

“The disembarkation of minors was the responsibility of the Minister of the Interior, not of the Prefecture as the defense claims. And the minors had the right to disembark according to the SAR regulations”, continued the prosecutor.

“It is also incorrect, as the defense does, to attribute jurisdiction to Spain, the flag state of the Open Arms – continued the magistrate -. The law provides, in fact, that jurisdiction lies with the country in whose waters the vessel is located : in this case Italy”. Sabella denied that national security reasons justified the no to the landing.

THE DEFENSE
“The Prosecutor's Office illuminates individual details, obscuring the general meaning. The prosecutor failed to respond to very serious facts highlighted by me during the speech”, said, replying to the Prosecutor's intervention, the lawyer Giulia Bongiorno who defends the leader of the League Matteo Salvini. For Bongiorno, moreover, the prosecutor forgets that the redistribution agreement spoken of by former Prime Minister Conte, cited by the Prosecutor's Office in the replies, was not finalized, “lacking the exact number of migrants whose responsibility the States should have assumed responsibility”. Finally, according to Salvini's defense, the migrants were guaranteed food and shelter throughout their stay on the Open Arms.

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