6-year prison sentence requested for Italian deputy prime minister

By Baris Seckin and Esra Tekin

ROME/ISTANBUL (AA) - Italy’s far-right League Party and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is facing a six-year prison sentence in a case where he is being tried for "illegal detention" and "abuse of office."

It comes after Salvini refused to allow migrants, rescued by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, to disembark for days while he was interior minister in 2019.

The legal proceedings against Salvini, initiated by the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2021 for not allowing 147 migrants rescued to disembark for 19 days in August 2019, are ongoing.

Italian media said during a hearing Saturday in Palermo, the prosecution presented an indictment against Salvini that said human rights should come before everything, including the state's duty to protect its borders.

After reading the indictment, it was reported that the prosecution requested a six-year prison sentence for Salvini for his actions in preventing the disembarkation of the migrants and refusing to perform his duties, even though prosecutors could request up to 15 years of imprisonment.

Following the prison request, Salvini shared a video message on social media.

"Throughout history, no government or minister has been prosecuted and judged for protecting their country's borders. Article 52 of the Italian Constitution states that defending the homeland is a sacred duty of the citizen. I accept my guilt. I accept my guilt for defending Italy and the Italians, for keeping my word,” Salvini said in the message.

Salvini made another post during the day where he said he would do the same thing again if it happened today.

- ‘I am in full solidarity with Minister Salvini’

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of the right-wing coalition government, reacted to the request for the prison sentence for her coalition partner with a post on X.

"It is unbelievable that a minister of the Italian Republic is facing a risk of 6 years in prison for fulfilling their duty to protect the country’s borders as mandated by citizens. Turning the duty to protect Italy's borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent. I am in full solidarity with Minister Salvini,” she wrote.

Antonio Tajani, leader of the Forza Italia Party, another coalition partner and the deputy prime minister and foreign minister said: “Matteo Salvini did what was necessary to defend legality as a minister. Therefore, requesting a 6-year prison sentence seems like an irrational choice and, moreover, it appears to have no legal basis."