Six years in prison requested for Matteo Salvini in the ‘Open Arms’ case

September 15 () –

The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office has requested this Saturday a six-year prison sentence for the vice president of the Italian Government and leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, accused of kidnapping and abuse of power for refusing the disembarkation in August 2019 of 147 migrants rescued off the coast of the island of Lampedusa by the ship ‘Open Arms’.

According to prosecutors, Salvini acted in 2019 not out of a strategy agreed with the government of Giuseppe Conte – of which he was Interior Minister – as his defence claims, but out of an interest in increasing his electoral consensus based on the fight against illegal immigration.

They have therefore concluded that there was no danger of terrorism on board the ship and therefore there was no need to protect the sovereignty of the State.

Furthermore, for the Prosecutor’s Office, “the idea of ​​putting the protection of national borders before human rights is not acceptable.” “There is a key principle that is not debatable: in our system, fortunately democratic, human rights prevail over the protection of state sovereignty,” said deputy prosecutor Geri Ferrara.

In statements reported by the Italian news agency ANSA, he argued that “the person at sea must be rescued” regardless of his condition: “his classification is irrelevant: migrant, crew member or passenger.” “According to International Law of the SAR Convention, even a human trafficker or a terrorist must be saved, so if that is the case, justice takes its course,” he explained.

In justifying her request for conviction, prosecutor Marzia Sebella stressed that “the conscious and voluntary denial harmed the freedom of each of the 147 people (on board the ‘Open Arms’) and there was no reason for it.”

“Minors were kept on board in violation of all national and international conventions. And who was the interlocutor? The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini,” said prosecutor Calogero Ferrara, stressing that the far-right leader committed a “criminal act by not granting a safe harbour.”

During the hearing, which lasted seven hours, the names of the 147 migrants who were travelling on board the ‘Open Arms’ were read out one by one and who, in the words of the Italian Prosecutor’s Office, were “the great absentees in this process”.

While awaiting the defence’s response, scheduled for 18 October, Salvini’s lawyer has accused the prosecution of playing politics.

“When he says that the technical committee, the decrees and the directives are unacceptable, intolerable and contrary to human rights, he is actually putting the political line of this government to the test,” said lawyer Giulia Bongiorno.

For his part, the vice president defended himself through a video posted on his account on the social network X. “Six years in prison for blocking the landings and defending Italy and the Italians? Madness. Defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, neither now nor ever,” he said.

He also accused the “left” in Parliament of deciding that “defending Italy’s borders is a crime”, denouncing that “no government or minister in history has been accused and tried for defending their country’s borders”.

“I declare myself guilty of having defended Italy and the Italians, I declare myself guilty of having kept my word,” Salvini said.

The Spanish NGO also welcomed the request from the Italian Prosecutor’s Office, stressing that it is “an important day for Italian and European justice.” “We are pleased with this request and were moved when the prosecutors dedicated their argument to the rescued people,” said its founder, Oscar Camps.