Advertisement

Italy's Salvini may face trial for 'kidnapping' migrants after all

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Italy's Salvini may face trial for 'kidnapping' migrants after all
Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini may face charges of abduction. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

A special tribunal has ruled that Interior Minister Matteo Salvini can face trial for "illegally confining" people rescued at sea aboard an Italian coastguard ship, despite an earlier recommendation to drop the case.

Advertisement

The case concerns the stand-off over the Diciotti, which was left in limbo for ten days in August after taking onboard more than 150 people, including children, who Salvini refused permission to land in Italy. The ship was eventually allowed to disembark in Sicily only after the Catholic Church had brokered a deal with Ireland and Albania to take the migrants in.

Shortly afterwards Sicilian prosecutors opened an investigation into the interior minister for suspected "illegal confinement, illegal arrest and abuse of power", only to recommend in November that the case be dropped.

Yet this week a special tribunal in Catania overturned that recommendation, ruling that Salvini could indeed stand trial.

Photo: Alessandro Fucarini/AFP

"They're trying again," Salvini tweeted in a defiant response on Thursday.

"I could face between three and five years in prison for having stopped illegal migrants landing in Italy. I'm speechless. Fear? Zero. I'll continue to work to defend my country's borders and Italians' safety!"

The tribunal's decision does not mean that a trial is certain: the matter now goes to the Italian Senate, which has the deciding say on whether members of Italy's government should face prosecution.

Salvini can almost certainly count on the support of the 58 senators from his League party, of which he is head, but the backing of the Five Star Movement – the League's partner in government – is not guaranteed. The Movement, which has 107 senators of a total of 315, has always said that any politician convicted or even investigated for a crime should immediately resign.

READ ALSO: 

Yet with opinion polls showing Salvini's approval rating rising as his own falters, Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio – who alongside Salvini is Italy's deputy prime minister – may decide it's more expedient to compromise, even on one of the party's founding principles.

Salvini's defiance drew support from his many followers on social media, with the hashtag #SalviniNonMollare ("Don't give up, Salvini") becoming one of Twitter's most tweeted on Thursday. The minister's anti-immigration allies across Europe joined the trend, with messages of approval from the leader of the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, and MP Anders Vistisen of the populist Danish People's Party, among others.

The ruling by the special tribunal, which is responsible for reviewing cases involving government ministers, focussed on the fact that the Diciotti had unaccompanied children aboard. Italy's laws state that the country cannot refuse entry outright to unaccompanied minors, yet Salvini denied them permission to land despite being aware of their presence, the judges said.

Some 30 children were eventually allowed to get off the ship three days before the adults, after Salvini relented to pressure from the special prosecutor for minors in Catania.

READ ALSO: 'Italian ports are closed', Salvini warns migrant rescue ship seeking shelter from storm


Photo: Federico Scoppa/AFP
 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also