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Salvini he clenches his fists in a sign of victory, hugs whoever comes his way, looks around, searches 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,” said the deputy prime minister after the sentence of the Palermo court which acquitted him from accusations of kidnapping and refusal of official documents to 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.
Salvini acquitted in the Open Arms trial, Meloni: «Great satisfaction, unfounded and surreal accusations». Tajani: there is a judge in Palermo
«Acquitted for having defended Italy»
“I am happy. After 3 years common sense won, the League won, Italy won. The concept that defending the borders, defending the homeland, fighting smugglers, traffickers, foreign NGOs and protecting our children is not a crime but a right has won. It took us a while, but we got there, so I'm moving forward even more determined than before”, said Salvini immediately after the acquittal. «I thank the lawyer Giulia Bongiorno and all her incredible staff, I thank the journalists who followed, I thank the thousands of Italians who were waiting for this sentence which not only absolves Matteo Salvini but absolves an idea of the country». «Entering Italy requires rules, limits and controls. And those who use migrants to wage a political battle have lost today – he says – Today they return to Spain with their hands in their pockets, I feel sorry for them. It's a beautiful day for Italy. From tomorrow I will return to work in the office with enthusiasm, desire, passion, energy, we took a risk, yes, after all, those who don't take risks in life don't go anywhere. Today the Court of Palermo, like the Court of Catania before, said that we have done our duty.” And he concludes: “Fighting mass immigration and organized and financed invasion is not a crime but a right, so it's a beautiful day.”
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