The vice-president of the Council, accompanied by the defender Giulia Bongiorno, was accused of kidnapping and refusal of official documents
The first degree of the trial concluded today, 20 December 2024, in Palermo Matteo Salvini accused for kidnapping and refusal of official acts. The judges ruled on the decision of deny landing on Lampedusa of 147 migrants saved by the Spanish NGO Open Arms in August 2019, when the current deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure and Transport was Minister of the Interior.
Salvini acquitted in Palermo
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Matteo Salvini was acquitted because the fact does not exist: this was the decision of the judges of the II criminal section chaired by Roberto Murgia, who entered the chamber at 11.30 this morning. At the time of the sentence in the courtroom, in addition to Minister Salvini, his lawyer Giulia Bongiorno and the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara were present.
The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office had requested a sentence of six years of imprisonmentclaiming that the then head of the Interior Ministry acted in contempt of the rules and in violation of the personal freedom of migrants. The defense, represented by the lawyer Giulia Bongiornohad instead asked for acquittal “because the fact does not exist”. Salvini, entering the Pagliarelli bunker room, said he was “confident and proud”, and that he was proud of the choices made during his mandate.
The open arms case
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The story dates back to the summer of 2019. On August 1st, the Open Arms rescued a group of migrants in difficulty in Libyan waters and asked for help safe haven in Italy and Malta. The response from the Interior Ministry was: a clear refusalkicking off a 19-day standoff. Meanwhile, further rescue operations by the Spanish vessel brought the total number of migrants on board to 147, including 27 minors. On August 12, the Palermo court ordered it disembarkation of minorsbut the ship continued to sail towards Lampedusa, without obtaining the required authorization. The NGO appealed to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, which on the eve of August 15th suspended the entry ban. However, despite the administrative judge’s decision, Salvini continued to deny the landing. On August 20, the prosecutor of Agrigento Luigi Patronaggio boarded the Open Arms, seizing the vessel and allowing the disembarkation of the 88 remaining migrantsafter transfers made for medical reasons.
Salvini’s trial
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The Prosecutor’s Office of Agrigento registered Salvini in the register of suspects with the hypothesis of kidnapping and refusal of official documents, in collaboration with his head of Cabinet Matteo Piantedosi. For jurisdiction, the papers were transferred to the prosecutors of Palermo, who formulated the accusation for Salvini, simultaneously dismissing that of Piantedosi. In 2020, the Senate authorized the trial and, on 17 April 2021, the preliminary hearing judge Lorenzo Jannelli ordered the indictment. The trial, which began on 15 September 2021, lasted for over three years with 24 hearings and various testimonies, including those of the former prime minister Giuseppe Conte and the current Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi. The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office had requested Salvini’s conviction for “the intentional and conscious disregard of the rules and conscious and voluntary denial of the personal freedom of 147 people”.
The solidarity of Meloni and the League
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The leader of the League has received the support of the prime minister Giorgia Meloniwho expressed the solidarity of the entire government during communications in the Senate. The Minister of Education and Merit was also present in the chamber Giuseppe Valditarathe deputy secretary of the League Claudio Durigon And Alessandro Morelli. In case of conviction, the League had already announced the mobilization, with public initiatives in Rome and Milan.
The prosecutor: “Minors had the right to disembark”
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In her replies, the deputy prosecutor Marzia Sabella had rejected the defense’s arguments, underlining that “Matteo Salvini’s defense provided a reading in the brief filed that was not in line with the evidentiary findings”. The prosecutor highlighted that “The minors were no longer at the border but in national watersso they had right to disembark“. He also reiterated that the landing authorization it was up to the minister and not to the prefecture, as claimed by the defense. “We defend borders, yes, but human rights”, concluded Sabella. “Human rights come first.”
Gazzetta dello Sport
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