Italian far-right leader Salvini faces court in migrant trial

PALERMO: Italy’s former interior minister and far-right leader Matteo Salvini went on trial on Saturday for allegedly illegally blocking 147 rescued migrants from disembarking from a rescue ship and holding them in dire conditions.

Salvini attended the opening hearing in Sicily’s Palermo, which came a month after it was first postponed.

The hearing was expected to be largely procedural, with Judge Roberto Murgia expected to decide on the admissability of witness lists sought by both sides.

Salvini, the leader of the farright League party who is known for an “Italians first” policy, is charged with kidnapping and abuse of office for using his position as interior minister to detain the 147 migrants at sea in August 2019.

The 48-year-old has said that the decision was not his alone, but agreed by the government, including by the then-prime minister, Giuseppe Conte.

Prosecutors have asked that the witness list include Conte, as well as Italy’s current Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

Salvini tweeted a photo of himself inside the courtroom, standing in front one of the cells used for some defendants.

“This is the courtroom of the Palermo prison. The trial wanted by the left and by the fans of illegal immigration begins: how much will it cost the Italian citizens?” he tweeted.

Outside the courtroom, the founder and director of the Spanish charity Open Arms that operated the rescue ship said the trial was not politically motivated.

“Saving people isn’t a crime, but an obligation not only by captains but by the entire state,” Oscar Camps told journalists.