The trial of far-right Italian leader Matteo Salvini began Saturday in Palermo in the presence of the former Minister of the Interior, accused of having illegally blocked 147 migrants at sea in 2019 in disastrous sanitary conditions by refusing them to land.
The American actor Richard Gere, whose visit was requested by the Spanish NGO Open Arms which operated the blocked rescue ship and is a civil party in this lawsuit, will be allowed to come and testify, as will the former Italian Prime Minister. Giuseppe Conte, said judge Roberto Murgia. Richard Gere had boarded the Open Arms ship in August 2019 to provide support for migrants, a visit then mocked by Matteo Salvini, then Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of the government led by Giuseppe Conte .
A verdict on Christmas?
The trial of Matteo Salvini, who faces up to 15 years in prison, began on September 15 but was returned immediately. Saturday’s largely procedural hearing lasted less than three hours and Judge Murgia set the next hearing for December 17.
“Tell me about the seriousness of a trial where Richard Gere comes from Hollywood to testify to my wickedness,” Matteo Salvini quipped in front of journalists outside the court. I hope it will last as short as possible because there are more important things to take care of ”.
Open Arms founder and director Oscar Camps assured reporters the trial was not politically motivated. “Saving people is not a crime but an obligation, not only for the captains but for the whole state”, he declared.
Sequestration and abuse of power
Matteo Salvini, 48, is the leader of La Ligue, a far-right anti-migrant party that belongs to the ruling coalition led by Mario Draghi. He is accused of kidnapping people and abuse of power for having prohibited the disembarkation of 147 migrants rescued at sea by the NGO Open Arms in August 2019.
He had refused for six days to grant a safe port to the ship of the Spanish NGO which anchored off the small Italian island of Lampedusa (south of Sicily) as conditions on board worsened. The migrants were only allowed to disembark thanks to an order issued by the Sicilian justice after an on-board inspection which had confirmed the seriousness of the health situation on the overcrowded ship.
Known for his controversial statements, especially on immigration, Matteo Salvini claims to have acted for the good of Italy and to dissuade migrants from embarking on the African coasts for a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean, stressing that the decision had was validated by the government of the time and Giuseppe Conte.
Politics comes to the trial
“This is the Palermo prison court,” Matteo Salvini had tweeted from the room before the hearing began, with a photo of himself standing in front of a cell reserved for certain defendants. “The trial wanted by the left and the fans of illegal immigration begins: how much will it cost Italian citizens? “.
Twenty-three civil parties, including nine migrants who were on board, are represented at the trial. The Senate voted last year to lift Matteo Salvini’s parliamentary immunity, paving the way for his trial.
In another similar case, the court of Catania, also in Sicily, had ordered the dropping of the prosecution against Matteo Salvini, accused of having stranded at sea a hundred migrants rescued by the ship “Gregoretti” of the Italian coast guard, still during the summer of 2019.
During the hearing on Saturday in Palermo, 406 migrants, rescued during several operations off Libya by the German ship Sea Watch 3 of the NGO Sea Watch, arrived in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo to disembark, according to the agency. Italian AGI.