It is accused of having blocked at sea 147 migrants in August 2019 in disastrous sanitary conditions, refusing them to land on Italian soil.
Le Monde with AFP
It is accused of having blocked at sea 147 migrants in August 2019 in disastrous sanitary conditions, refusing them to land on Italian soil. The former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini went to the opening of his trial, Saturday, October 23, in Palermo.
Among the witnesses of the far-right leader will appear Luciana Lamorgese and Luigi di Maio, current interior ministers and foreign affairs, but also Giuseppe Conte, chairman of the board at the time of the fact, as well as the American actor Richard gere. The latter was climbed aboard the Open Arms ship in August 2019 to support migrants. His coming was requested by Open Arms, the association that operated the rescue vessel blocked and which was formed civil part in this trial.
Its founder and director, Oscar Camps, assured the journalists that the trial did not have political motivation. “Saving people is not a crime but an obligation, not only for the captains, but for the entire state,” he said.
The trial of Mr. Salvini, which risks up to fifteen years in prison, had opened on September 15 but had been returned immediately. The Saturday, largely procedural hearing, lasted less than three hours and Judge Roberto Murgia set the next hearing on December 17. “Tell me about the seriousness of a trial where Richard Gere comes from Hollywood to testify to my wickedness,” Ironized Mr. Salvini in front of journalists outside the court. “I hope it will last as little as possible because there are more important things to deal with.”
Matteo Salvini, 48, is the leader of the league, antimigrants, far straight, which belongs to the coalition in power directed by Mario Draghi. He was Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in the first government of Mr. Conte, from June 2018 to September 2019.
Sequestration
In this trial, Mr. Salvini is accused of sequestration of persons and abuse of power for prohibiting the landing of 147 migrants rescued at sea by the NGO Open ARMS in August 2019. He had refused for six days. ‘Give a safe port to the ship of the Spanish NGO that wet off the small Italian island of Lampedusa (south of Sicily) while the edge conditions worsened.
Migrants had been allowed to land only through an order issued by Sicilian justice after an inspection on board that had confirmed the severity of the health situation on the overcrowded vessel.
known for its controversial statements, particularly on immigration, Mr. Salvini ensures that it has acted for the good of Italy and to deter migrants from embarking on the African coast for a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean, stressing that the decision had been validated by the government of the time and Mr. Conte.
“Here is the Tribunal of Palermo Prison,” had tweeted Mr. Salvini from the room before the opening of the hearing, with a photo of himself standing in front of a cell reserved for some accused. “The trial wanted by the left and the fans of illegal immigration begins: how much will it cost the Italian citizens?”, Had he added.
Twenty-three civil parties, including nine migrants on board, are represented at trial. The Senate voted last year the lifting of Mr. Salvini’s parliamentary immunity, paving the way for his trial.
In a similar case, the Catania court, also in Sicily, had ordered the abandonment of the proceedings against Mr. Salvini, accused of having blocked at sea a hundred migrants saved by the vessel Gregoretti Italian coast guards, always during the summer of 2019.
While the hearing was held in Palermo, Saturday, 406 migrants, saved during several operations off Libya by the Sea-Watch Sea-Watch 3 German vessel, arrived in the Sicilian port. of Pozzallo to delebmber, according to the Italian agency acted.