A verdict is expected Friday in the trial of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, accused of kidnapping and neglect of duty for his refusal to allow a migrant rescue boat to dock in Italy in 2019.
Prosecutors in Sicily asked judges to sentence him to six years in prison.
Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega party and government ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has already said he would appeal if found guilty.
He rejected the accusations, repeatedly saying the judges were “political” and saying his only culpability was wanting to “protect Italy.”
One of the prosecutors, Geri Ferrara, told the court in September that human rights must take precedence over “protecting state sovereignty.”
“A person stranded at sea must be rescued and it does not matter whether they are considered a migrant, a crew member or a passenger,” she said.
A ship from the NGO Open Arms was carrying 147 migrants picked up off the coast of Libya when it was prevented from docking on the Italian island of Lampedusa on the orders of Salvini, then interior minister.
The Open Arms remained at sea for almost three weeks and the health situation of the migrants on board seriously deteriorated.
Ultimately, the prosecutor of the Sicilian city of Agrigento, Luigi Patronaggio, ordered the preventive seizure of the ship after inspecting it and noting the “difficult situation on board”.
Salvini claimed that Giuseppe Conte's government had fully supported him in his mission to “close Italian ports” to NGO rescue ships.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stood by her deputy prime minister, saying he had “solidarity” with her and her government.
“Making the obligation to protect Italy's borders against illegal immigration a crime constitutes a very serious precedent,” she said on X earlier this year.
She never indicated that she would expect his resignation in the event of a guilty verdict and Salvini, for his part, said he would not resign.
In recent months, he has frequently referenced the trial and upcoming verdict in social media posts and during public speeches and interviews.
“I want to believe that Italy is a normal country and that, in a normal country, whoever defends its borders is not found guilty,” he told Italian media earlier this week. If that were the case, he said, “it would be terrible news for the country and a reason to rejoice for Italy's smugglers and enemies.”
He also claimed that the Italian judicial system was “politicized” and that some magistrates “clearly followed left-wing politics.”
Elly Schlein, head of the center-left opposition Democratic Party, accused Salvini of “spreading propaganda and fueling a serious institutional conflict.”
The three female prosecutors in the case have been under police protection since September after being harassed online and threatened.
Members of Salvini's Lega have rallied around him and are planning demonstrations in support of him.
On Wednesday, League MPs showed up to a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg wearing T-shirts reading “Guilty of defending Italy” – a slogan Salvini has used in the past.
“A conviction would be an extremely serious matter,” said Andrea Crippa, deputy secretary of the League. “It would be like condemning the entire Italian people, the Italian parliament and the elected government.”
Lombardy Lega president Attilio Fontana said a guilty verdict would be “so aberrant, even from a judicial point of view, that I don't even want to think about it.”
Others outside Italy have also joined the debate.
“This crazy prosecutor should be the one who goes to prison for six years,” Elon Musk tweeted, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Salvini, called the trial “shameful.”
If found guilty, Salvini said he would appeal the verdict “all the way to the Supreme Court of Cassation”, Italy's highest court.
This process could take months and Salvini's position in the government and Parliament would not be affected.
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