A ship stuck at sea
A little reminder of the facts. On August 1, 2019, the boat of the Spanish NGO Open Arms rescued one hundred and twenty-four people off the coast of Libya, including women, children and unaccompanied minors. The crew requested permission to head towards the port of Lampedusa, but received in response a ban on entering Italian territorial waters, signed by Matteo Salvini. According to him, this response is in line with the government's line, which intends to block illegal immigration. “Everyone is scandalized because this boat with 128 migrants is stuck thirty nautical miles from Lampedusa, and so they filed a complaint against me, but I don’t care,” then asserts the leader of La Ligue who was at the peak of his popularity in Italy that summer. Nine days later, the boat rescued another boat and saved thirty-nine additional people. The situation on board is becoming more and more difficult. “We urgently request a reception port”, American actor Richard Gere said at the time, boarding the Open Arms with the NGO volunteers. “The health situation is serious, these people are piled on top of each other and conditions are deteriorating, this blockage must end!” the actor is alarmed. Several migrants will jump into the sea to try in vain to reach the shore; many are desperate. The juvenile court requests the urgent evacuation of the youngest but Matteo Salvini does not budge. When the President of the Council Giuseppe Conte forced him to disembark the miners, he accepted reluctantly, he said.
A legal and political standoff
It is ultimately the Agrigento prosecutor who will resolve the question. On August 20, 2019, he boarded and forced the disembarkation. The Open Arms enters the port of Lampedusa at nightfall to the applause of the volunteers. For the exhausted migrants, it is the end of the ordeal at sea; for Minister Salvini it is the beginning of his legal troubles. Because in the meantime, the government composed of The League and the 5 Star Movement fell, Matteo Salvini returned to the opposition benches, and in September 2020, the senators voted for his referral to the Palermo court. The leader of La Ligue denounces a political trial and launches an online campaign to pose as a victim. “Guilty for having respected the Constitution and defending the borders of my country”, he said in a video posted on social media. He received the support of the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, when last September, the prosecutor requested six years in prison against the man who had in the meantime returned to power as Minister of Transport.
Asylum and migration: 6 years in prison required for Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini
A politically useful acquittal
Matteo Salvini has always considered that this trial was purely political. Over the past three years, he had not failed to attack the magistrates, who according to him were highly politicized. Condemned, he could have played the martyr and tried to restore his image in the eyes of his voters; his acquittal, however, allows him to relaunch his political battle against migrants. “Defending national borders against illegal immigration is therefore legitimate. he said upon learning of his acquittal.
