GERE A ‘SHOW TRIAL’ RISK
Plans for actor Richard Gere to testify against former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini for abuse of migrants threaten to turn the case into a show trial, the far-right leader said on Sunday.
Gere will testify against him in the so-called Open Arms case, according to remarks Mr Salvini made at a political meeting that were reported by the Ansa news agency.
“If someone wants to turn the trial into a show and wants to see Richard Gere, let him go to the cinema, not to a court,” the head of the populist and nationalist League party said, according to Ansa.
Mr Salvini is accused of kidnapping and abuse of power in August 2019 by preventing more than 100 migrants from disembarking from a rescue ship – even as conditions on board deteriorated.