Richard Gere will testify in the trial against Salvini for blocking the disembarkation of migrants from the Open Arms

American actor Richard Gere will testify on October 6 in the trial against the Italian politician Matteo Salvini, accused of blocking in 2019, when he was Minister of the Interior, the disembarkation of saved immigrants by the ship of the Spanish NGO Open Arms in the Mediterranean.

He Court of Palermo (island of Sicily)which is instructing the process, today called the actor to testify, as requested in the previous hearing on June 9, they confirmed to efe judgment sources.

Salvini, current vice president of the Government, is tried in the Sicilian capital for prevent for about 20 daysin August 2019, the disembarkation of 163 immigrants rescued by Open Arms in the Mediterranean, within the framework of its “closed ports” policy.

[De Conte a Richard Gere: el juicio a Salvini por el Open Arms se convierte en un show mediático]

Gere witnessed the situation on board the rescue ship, since on August 9 of that year brought food to the ship a speech recalled by the founder of the NGO, Oscar Camps, at the previous hearing.

“He called me to ask what he could do, I told him to meet me in Fiumicino and that Let’s go to Lampedusa together“Camps explained then, recounting that the actor”he was in charge of buying fruit and vegetables and rent a boat to carry what had been bought”.

“People he had been at sea for too many days with infectious diseases, scabies; the lack of water did not help this situation and the doctor couldn’t take it anymore… There was a lot of tension on board, everything was missing, we had to make many trips to bring water and medicine and the physical and psychological situation was not easy,” recalled Camps.

The situation was unblocked thanks to the intervention of the Administrative Court of Lazio, that allowed the landing on the island of Lampedusa due to the situation on board after twenty days of blockade.

[Italia enjuicia a Salvini por un delito de secuestro de personas en el caso Open Arms]

Salvini, accused of the kidnapping crimes and abuse of power, alleged for his part that the humanitarian vessel “was assisted in all modes” and denounced that the objective of the NGO was to force Italy to accept immigrants.

“The NGO had unworthily rejected the aid and the ports of Malta and Spain at the cost of increasing the days of navigation. The objective was only to land in Italy“, he said in a note.