The Palermo prosecutor's office on Saturday called for a six-year prison sentence for Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and former interior minister, on charges of kidnapping and abuse of official power, MTI reported.
The action began three years ago against the League leader, because he did not allow the Spanish civilian ship Open Arms to dock in Lampedusa with 147 migrants on board in 2019, even when he was interior minister.
The six-year prison sentence proposed by the prosecutor's office is far less than the maximum 15 years that could be imposed on the basis of the charges.
The Five Star Movement led by Giuseppe Conte and the League government kept the Open Arms ship waiting for nineteen days in August 2019, until the public prosecutor’s office in Agrigento, Sicily, finally intervened and allowed it to land. In the summer of 2020, Parliament revoked Matteo Salvini’s immunity due to the Open Arms procedure, which was initiated against the former interior minister for, among other things, hostage-taking, abuse of official power and violation of international conventions.
Salvini was not in court on Saturday. At the time, he wrote on his Instagram page that he was proud to have taken action to protect Italy’s borders and would do the same again if necessary. The verdict in the case is expected in October.
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