Matteo Salvini was acquitted in the process for the caso Open Arms. “The fact does not exist,” the judges decreed Court of Palermo. He was accused of kidnapping e refusal of official acts for the case Open Arms: in August 2019, when he was Minister of the Interior in the Conte I government, he denied the landing in Italy of 147 migrants rescued by the Spanish NGO ship.
The Palermo prosecutor's office had requested six years' imprisonment for the then head of the Interior Ministry, who in the opinion of the prosecutors was obliged to disembark the migrants in a safe port after the TAR had canceled the entry ban. The denial, they claimed, occurred “in theintentional and conscious disregard of the rules”. According to the judges, it didn't go that way until during the hearing, which began on September 15, 2021 and lasted 24 hearings, hearing from 45 witnesses.
Salvini reacted by tightening his hands punches in the sign of victory and embracing those who happened to be close to him. Then he was joined by his girlfriend Francesca Verdiniin tears, and they hugged each other for a long time. “You were all good”said the minister, also addressing his lawyer, the Northern League parliamentarian Giulia Bongiornowho was also moved.
“I'm happy: after three years he won the Legawon theItalia. Defending the homeland is not a crime but a right. I will move forward even more determined than before”, was the minister's immediate reaction. Then he added to himself: “Writing to your children”. He then went away to communicate the absolution to his closest relatives. Three years of trial, four if we consider the preliminary hearings, end in a few seconds in the very short sentence pronounced by the president of the second section, Roberto Murgia, who will file the motivations within 90 days.
An acquittal that triggers scenes of jubilation among the men of the League: “He almost broke a rib,” he says Luca SammartinoMister Preferences from Catania, who joined the League a couple of years ago, came in the evening to show solidarity with Salvini. Also listening to the sentence was the head of the public prosecutor's office, Maurizio De Luciawho was not yet in that position when Salvini's indictment was requested, at the time led by Francesco Lo Voi. Immediately after the reading, the magistrates approached Bongiorno and Salvini to offer their compliments.
“Il sorry it is above all for the people, who as we have said from the first minute, have been deprived of theirs freedom. Now we wait for them motivations of the judges and we will evaluate whether to appeal the sentence, as we hope also the prosecutor's office”, said the founder of Open Arms Oscar Camps. “With this process – he added – which is unique in Italian and European history, we wanted to give back dignity to the 147 people held on board. Saving lives is what Open Arms has been doing for 10 years. Our work doesn't stop.”
The one in Palermo was the second proceeding against Salvini linked to the detention of migrants on board ships. A first sentence of no place to proceedbecause the fact does not exist, was issued on 14 May 2021 in the bunker room of the Bicocca prison for the disembarkation times in July 2019 of 131 migrants from nave Gregorettiof the Italian Coast Guard, in the port of Augustain the Syracuse area. For the judge of the preliminary hearing Nunzio Sarpietrowho shared the thesis of the prosecutor's office and the defense, there had been no kidnapping or abuse.
