According to the accusation, the deputy prime minister and current Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, in August 2019, when he held the position of Minister of the Interior, would have unlawfully prevented to the crew of the Open Arms vessel to disembark 147 migrants rescued at sea on Lampedusa.
The Palermo court instead the Northern League leader acquitted who after the verdict clenched his fists in a sign of victory and declared: “I'm happy. After three years, the League has won, Italy has won. Defending the homeland is not a crime but a right. I will go forward even more determined before.”
The deputy prime minister underlined: “This sentence does not just absolve Salvini but the idea that there are rules and controls. It is a sentence that not only absolves Salvini, but an idea of the country. Those who use immigrants to make politics today have losttoday he returns to Spain with his hands in his pocket.”
Salvini later added: “Now we have to also think about the justice of tomorrowI have broad shoulders, even in the event of a conviction I would have continued anyway. But if I think that 1000 Italians are unjustly arrested every year but don't have the money for a lawyer and lose their jobs, loved ones and lives. We need to rethink the times and ways of justice.”
As is known, for the Minister of Transport lThe prosecutor had asked for a six-year sentence of prison while the civil parties had requested a sentence of one million euros as compensation for damages.
If the victory is completely flawless from a judicial point of view, for Salvini it might not be so convenient from a political point of view, where in the event of even a minimal conviction he could have continued to present himself as martyr of the defense of the Italian bordersa role that could have favored him in the media, so much so that demonstrations of support for their leader by Northern League voters were already planned for tomorrow throughout Italy, obviously in the event of his conviction.
Davide Fifaco
