Photo credit: AP News
Matteo Salvini, a right-wing League leader in Italy, is facing a six-year prison sentence for his decision to prevent over one hundred migrants from landing in the country when he was interior minister in 2019.
ABC News reports that prosecutors requested the prison term on Saturday. If convicted, he would be barred from holding government office. The prosecutors have accused Salvini – who is currently the deputy premier and transport minister in the right-wing government – of alleged kidnapping for leaving a migrant rescue ship operated by charity Open Arms stranded at sea for 19 days.
During the stand-off, some of the migrants threw themselves overboard in desperation as the captain pleaded for a safe, close port. A court order eventually allowed the remaining eighty-nine people onboard to disembark in Lampedusa.
Salvini defiantly said on his social media on Saturday, “I would do it again: defending borders from illegal immigrants is not a crime.”
A first sentence could come at the end of the month. A conviction is definitive only at the end of a three-stage judicial process. If convicted, Salvini could be barred from holding government office again.
