In recent days, as well as on the morning of the trial, Salvini he repeated several times that he was “proud” of having “defended” Italy and that he would do everything he did again. Today the leader of the League was in Palermo together with a delegation of parliamentarians from his party and his lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, senator of the League.
The trial began in April 2021 and concerns events that occurred in August 2019, when the first Conte government was in office, supported by the 5 Star Movement and the League. The then Interior Minister Salvini prevented for days the disembarkation in Italy of 147 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the ship of the Spanish non-governmental organization Open Arms.
The hearing on 20 December began in the morning with the reply of the prosecutor Marzia Sabella to the minister's defense speech, which was followed by the rejoinders of Bongiorno, who asked for Salvini's acquittal because, according to him, “the fact did not exists.” At the end of the hearing, around 11.30 am, the judges met in chambers to decide the sentence, which was communicated only after several hours.
Last September 14, the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, at the end of the indictment, announced the request for a 6-year prison sentence for Salvini. Shortly afterwards, the minister had published a video to defend his reasons in the trial and tell his version of the facts.
Point by point, let's retrace the stages that led to the first instance sentence against Salvini.
