Matteo Salvini was acquitted regarding the Open Arms trial. Friday 20 December inbunker classroom of the Pagliarelli prison in Palermo the judges have established that the fact does not exist with respect to the accusations made against Minister of Infrastructure. The trial on caso Open Armswhich sees the leader of the League accused of kidnapping and refusal of official actstherefore gets to the point after more than three years and 24 hearings. The sentence was announced shortly before 8pm.
The prosecutor's office, with the prosecutors Marzia Sabella, Back to Ferrara e Giorgia Righione had asked six year sentence of imprisonment for having prevented, in August 2019 (when Salvini he was Minister of the Interior), the landing on Lampedusa of 147 migrants rescued at sea by the Spanish NGO ship.
In the morning, before entering the classroom (where they were the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara was presentthe deputy secretary of the League Claudio Durigon, the parliamentarian Alessandro Morelli and the founder of Open Arms Oscar Camps) Salvini it was said “absolutely proud” of what was done in 2019, adding that it had “kept promises” on the fight against immigration. The deputy prime minister, who arrived in Palermo on Thursday evening, preferred to spend the eve of the sentence alone in a hotel in Mondello. In the'bunker classroom of the Pagliarelli prison he was supported by the lawyer, the Northern League senator Giulia Bongiorno.
The facts
It all began on August 1, 2019, when the Open Arms ship carried out two rescue operations, saving 124 people in the Mediterranean waters. The tug of war between the NGO and the Ministry of the Interior it lasted for nineteen days. Despite transfers for medical reasons, 147 people remained stranded on board, including 32 minors. The tension reached critical levels, so much so that some migrants threw themselves into the sea out of desperation.
Il TAR of Lazio the ban on entry into Italian territorial waters was suspended, but according to what emerged from the investigations, Salvini however, he did not indicate a port of disembarkation. The situation was only resolved on August 20th with the intervention of prosecutor of Agrigento Luigi Patronaggiowho after visiting the ship and meeting the Port Authority, ordered the disembarkation of the migrants remained on board, now reduced to 83.
