Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini awaits a Palermo court’s verdict Friday in a kidnapping trial stemming from his 2019 decision as interior minister to prevent 147 asylum seekers aboard a Spanish charity vessel from entering Italian ports for nearly three weeks.
The case, which could result in a six-year prison sentence, emerges as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government faces judicial challenges to its migration policies, including recent court questioning of plans to redirect asylum seekers to Albania.
Salvini, who denies wrongdoing, faces charges of kidnapping and dereliction of duty after blocking the Open Arms charity ship from docking. The vessel had rescued primarily African migrants off Libya’s coast but refused directions to sail to Spain, citing passengers’ exhaustion and immediate care needs.
Defense lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, also a League party senator, argued that Italy had no automatic obligation to accept the vessel and that alternative destinations were available. If convicted, Salvini maintains right to two appeals before any final ruling that could bar him from office, though he has promised to retain his position regardless of an initial guilty verdict.
