Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, is preparing for a significant verdict in Sicily concerning his actions in 2019, when he barred approximately 100 migrants from disembarking a rescue ship during his time as interior minister.
As the leader of the Eurosceptic and anti-migrant League party, Salvini spoke at a rally last week, declaring that “defending borders, preserving dignity, enforcing laws, and safeguarding a nation’s honor can never be classified as a crime.”
If convicted of kidnapping in relation to the August 2019 event, Salvini could face a prison term of up to six years.
This situation arose from his decision to prevent rescued migrants from leaving the Open Arms rescue vessel at Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island.
A sentence longer than five years would also bar him from holding any public office.
Regardless of the outcome on Friday, the ruling will not have an immediate effect, as Italian law stipulates that decisions are only final after two levels of appeal, a process that may take several years.
The Open Arms arrived in Italy with 150 migrants, some of whom had been rescued in the Maltese search and rescue area, with Lampedusa being the closest port.
They spent ten days in international waters, followed by five days near Lampedusa, during which the migrants became increasingly anxious, the weather deteriorated, and conditions on board worsened.
Some migrants made attempts to jump overboard, and minors were evacuated during the standoff. In the end, a court ordered that the remaining 89 individuals on board be permitted to disembark in Lampedusa.
During his tenure as interior minister from 2018 to 2019, under the first government of former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Salvini implemented a strict migration policy, denying access to ports for humanitarian rescue vessels and accusing organizations involved in sea rescues of aiding human trafficking.
In a related event, German captain Carola Rackete defied Salvini’s directives in June 2019 by entering the port of Lampedusa, declaring a state of emergency on her ship, the Sea-Watch 3, which had been carrying 40 migrants rescued at sea for nearly 16 days. She was later arrested.
Italy has since retracted the allegations of facilitating illegal migration against her.
Currently, as the transport minister in the far-right government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Salvini has the support of both the prime minister and his fellow ministers during the ongoing trial in Palermo.
