A verdict is expected on Friday in the trial of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is accused of kidnapping and dereliction of duty for refusing to let a refugee rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019.
Prosecutors in Sicily have asked judges to sentence him to six years in prison.
Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega party and a government ally of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has already said he would appeal if found guilty.
He defended himself against the allegations and repeatedly claimed that the judges were “political.” His only guilt is wanting to “protect Italy”.
One of the prosecutors, Geri Ferrara, told the court in September that human rights took precedence over “protecting state sovereignty.”
“A person stranded at sea must be rescued, regardless of whether they are classified as a migrant, crew member or passenger,” she said.
An NGO ship called Open Arms was carrying 147 migrants who had been intercepted off the Libyan coast when it was prevented from docking on the Italian island of Lampedusa on orders from then-Interior Minister Salvini.
The Open Arms remained at sea for almost three weeks and the health of the migrants on board deteriorated significantly.
Finally, the prosecutor of the Sicilian city of Agrigento, Luigi Patronaggio, ordered the precautionary seizure of the ship after inspecting it and noting the “difficult situation on board.”
Salvini claimed that the then government of Giuseppe Conte fully supported him in his mission to “close the ports” of Italy to NGO rescue ships.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stood by her deputy prime minister, saying he had the “solidarity” of her and her government.
“Turning the duty to protect Italy’s borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent,” she posted on X earlier this year.
She has never indicated that she would expect him to resign if found guilty, and Salvini, for his part, has said he will not resign.
In recent months, he has made frequent references to the trial and the upcoming verdict in social media posts as well as in public speeches and interviews.
“I want to believe that Italy is a normal country and that in a normal country someone who defends borders is not found guilty,” he told Italian media earlier this week. If this is the case, he said, “it would be terrible news for the country and a cause for celebration for people smugglers and enemies of Italy.”
He also claimed that the Italian judiciary was “politicized” and that some judges “clearly followed left-wing politics.”
Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left opposition Democratic Party, accused Salvini of “spreading propaganda and fomenting a serious institutional conflict.”
The three prosecutors in the case have been under police protection since September after they received online harassment and threats.
Members of Salvini’s Lega party have gathered around him and are preparing demonstrations in his support.
On Wednesday, Lega MPs showed up to a meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg wearing T-shirts that read “Guilty of defending Italy” – a slogan Salvini has used in the past.
“A conviction would be an incredibly serious matter,” said Lega deputy secretary Andrea Crippa: “It would be like condemning the entire Italian people, the Italian parliament and the elected government.”
The leader of Lombardy’s Lega party, Attilio Fontana, said a guilty verdict would be “so absurd, even from a legal point of view, that I don’t even want to think about it.”
Others outside Italy have also weighed in on the debate.
“This crazy prosecutor should be the one who goes to prison for six years,” Elon Musk tweeted, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close Salvini ally, called the trial “shameful.”
Salvini said that if convicted, he would appeal the verdict “all the way to the Supreme Court of Cassation” – Italy’s highest court.
This process could take months and Salvini’s position in the government and parliament would remain unaffected.
