Deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini is being prosecuted in Italy for his decision in August 2019 to stop a migrant boat from docking, and he could receive a six-year prison sentence.
The ship, operated by Open Arms, a nonprofit, was left at sea for almost three weeks before a court order allowed it to dock on the island of Lampedusa.
Then-interior minister Salvini refutes claims of kidnapping and duty neglect.
On Saturday, he declared himself “guilty of defending Italy and Italians” and stated that he had wished to keep Italy from becoming a “camp for refugees for all of Europe.”
The Opens Arms ship, carrying 147 migrants who had been rescued off the coast of Libya, was prevented from docking in Lampedusa.
Situated approximately midway between the Mediterranean and the Italian mainland, the island has recently functioned as a port of entry for thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe.
As interior minister, Salvini implemented the “closed ports” policy, arguing that it would remove incentives for people smugglers.
Crew members have testified during the trial that, among other things, an outbreak of scabies occurred as a result of the deteriorating sanitary conditions and general well-being of the migrants while the ship was being held offshore.
Prosecutor Geri Ferrara told the Sicilian court that there was “one key principle that is not debatable.”
“Human rights must prevail between the protection of state sovereignty and other rights in our fortunately democratic system,” he said.
In January, Salvini testified that he knew “the situation [on the ship] was not at risk.”
A verdict in the October 2021 trial could be rendered as early as the following month. If found guilty, Salvini might also be barred from holding public office.
In response to the requested sentence on X, Salvini declared, “Defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, not now, not ever.”
“My government’s actions have decreased landings, deaths, and disappearances in the Mediterranean Sea,” he declared.
Nobody ever prevented this Spanish ship from sailing, with the exception of Italy. We could no longer be the biggest refugee camp in Europe.
“No government or minister has ever been charged or tried for protecting the borders of their own nation in the history of the world.”
11,471 sea arrivals were reported in Italy in 2019, according to UN data, a significant decrease from the numbers in the year before or the year after.
Salvini, the leader of the anti-illegal immigration Northern League party, is in charge of the coalition government, which also includes Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Five Star Movement.
On Saturday, Meloni gave Salvini her “complete solidarity.”
The author commented on X, saying, “It is incomprehensible that a minister of the Italian Republic faces six years in prison for carrying out his duty of protecting the country’s borders, as mandated by the citizens’ will.”
“Making the obligation to defend Italy’s borders against illegal immigration a criminal offense is a very serious precedent.”
