A court on Friday acquitted Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of charges of kidnapping over 100 migrants aboard a humanitarian rescue vessel he blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019. The case centered on Salvini’s policy to curb irregular migration during his tenure as interior minister.
After a three-year trial, judges rejected the prosecutor’s request for a six-year prison sentence for Salvini, who leads the far-right League party and currently serves as transport minister in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government.
“I’m happy. After three years, common sense won, the League won, Italy won,” Salvini said outside the court. He defended his actions, stating that protecting Italy’s borders “is not a crime, but a right.”
The acquittal comes amid ongoing legal and political tensions over Italy’s approach to migration. The decision follows another court case questioning the legality of a government plan to relocate asylum seekers to Albania, which is now under review by the European Court of Justice.
The charges against Salvini stemmed from a 2019 standoff involving the Spanish charity Open Arms, which had rescued 147 migrants from the Mediterranean Sea near Libya. Salvini refused to grant the vessel entry into Italian ports, forcing it to remain offshore for nearly three weeks. Prosecutors argued that Salvini exceeded his authority, as no national security concerns justified the decision to block the ship.
Prime Minister Meloni, a staunch ally of Salvini, welcomed the verdict, calling the accusations “unfounded and surreal.” On social media, she reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fighting illegal immigration and human trafficking, and to defending Italy’s sovereignty.
The defense argued that the Open Arms ship could have docked elsewhere, including Spain, the NGO’s home country. Defense attorney Giulia Bongiorno, a League senator, stated that Italy was under no obligation to allow the migrants to disembark.
The high-profile trial attracted international attention, with support for Salvini coming from far-right leaders across Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. In the United States, billionaire Elon Musk also voiced his approval, aligning with his recent advisory role to President-elect Donald Trump.
The Open Arms incident highlights broader migration challenges in the Mediterranean. Over the past 12 years, more than 1 million migrants have reached Italy by boat, often fleeing conflict or poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The crisis has fueled the rise of far-right parties like the League, which prioritize strict immigration controls in their political agendas.
Magistrates eventually seized the Open Arms vessel in 2019, allowing the migrants to disembark in Italy. The charity had argued that the migrants were too exhausted for extended travel and required urgent care.
The verdict is likely to embolden Salvini and his allies as they continue their hardline stance on migration policies, a cornerstone of their political platform.
