Italy’s Supreme Court definitively acquitted Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini over his blocking of an open borders NGO migrant boat that attempted to dump illegals into the country in 2019.
After a five year legal battle, the case against Transport Minister Matteo Salvini is finally over, after an appeal from Palermo prosecutors fell flat at the Court of Cassation in Rome on Wednesday, RAI reported.
The populist League leader had been accused of kidnapping and of breaching international law over his decision as Interior Minister in 2019 to prevent the Spanish NGO Open Arms migrant boat from docking at the island of Lampedusa and disembarking 147 illegal migrants on Italian soil. For this supposed offence, prosecutors sought a six year prison sentence against Salvini.
The Deputy PM had been acquitted by the Court of Palermo last December. However, the Sicilian prosecutors promptly launched an appeal to the Supreme Court.
According to Il Giornale, Salvini’s defence team successfully argued that because the NGO ship sailed under a Spanish flag and that the rescue of the illegal migrants occurred in Maltese waters, it was not the responsibility of the Italian government to take in the illegals, and therefore he had not breached international regulations on asylum seeking by blocking the ship from Italian ports.
Responding to the decision by the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, Salvini wrote on X that after five years of trials, it was finally determined that “defending borders is not a crime.”
The definitive dismissal of the charges against her deputy was also hailed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said before the Senate on Wednesday: “A round of applause for the acquittal of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini from the unfounded accusation of kidnapping and for the definitive affirmation of the principle that an Interior Minister who defends Italy’s borders is doing his job and nothing more. We express our solidarity and joy to the Deputy Prime Minister.”
Salvini’s populist allies across Europe were also quick to hail the legal victory, including Dutch Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders and French National Rally president Jordan Bardella.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has long defied Brussels on immigration to protect his nation’s borders, said of the ruling: “Acquitted – justice prevails! My fellow patriot, Matteo Salvini, has faced a political witch hunt for five years, on trial for halting an illegal landing in Italy. Five long years of court proceedings proved one thing: defending the borders of your country is NOT a crime!”
The pro-mass migration Open Arms NGO at the heart of the case was less pleased with the ruling, which it described as a “political decision” that will lay the groundwork for governments across Europe to block illegal migrants from their shores.
In a statement per Corriere Della Sera, Open Arms said that the ruling “authorizes other governments to close ports, to detain people on ships. We will continue at sea, they will continue in their palaces: history will judge who is on the right side.”
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