Italian prosecutors requested a six-year prison term for League leader Matteo Salvini for his decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in Italy when he was interior minister in 2019, according to AP News.
Salvini could be suspended from the government if convicted.
Prosecutors in the city of Palermo charged Salvini, deputy prime minister and transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s government, with alleged kidnapping. The migrant rescue ship, run by the charity Open Arms, was stuck at sea for 19 days.
During the standoff in 2019, some migrants threw themselves overboard in desperation as the captain pleaded for a safe and close port. The 89 people remaining on board were eventually allowed to disembark on the Lampedusa by court order.
Salvini stated on Saturday:
I would do it all again: defending borders from illegal immigrants is not a crime.
The guilty verdict, which in Italy is final only at the end of a three-stage trial, could bar Salvini from holding public office. However, Meloni and several ministers of her government expressed solidarity with the League leader, defending his decisions.
“It is incredible that a minister of the Italian Republic risks six years in prison for doing his job defending the nation’s borders, as required by the mandate received from its citizens.”
Salvini took a hard line on migration during his tenure as interior minister in Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s first government from 2018-2019. Conte is now actively criticising Meloni on X for the current administration’s controversial policies.
If for months mortgages have skyrocketed, families have gone into crisis and banks have collected extra and record profits on this crisis, then it is right to ask the banks for a contribution to support the many citizens who have gone into suffering. (…) Despite the announcements, the Meloni Government did not have the strength and courage to approve this measure: instead of a tax on banks, they increased taxes on diapers for the few who still have children in Italy.
