The Italian Senate decided to allow former interior minister Matteo Salvini to be prosecuted for allegedly holding migrants hostage aboard a coast guard ship.
Last summer, 131 migrants were for days prevented from disembarking in Sicily. At the time, Salvini was pushing for the closure of ports to migrants.
“I want to be proud of what I did, with my head held high. Our constitution says that protecting our homeland is a holy duty for Italian citizens”, said Salvini, who demanded for his immunity to be lifted.
“If I’ll stand trial, I’ll explain to the judges that I had a duty to defend the Italian citizens, and I will serenely walk into the hearing room representing millions of Italians – for what I did was what they wanted: checking those who come into Italy and those who leave, as I would do in my home. When you do nothing wrong, then there is nothing you should be afraid of”, he added.
Last year, while Salvini was still interior minister, the Senate immunity commission voted against lifting his immunity in a different case, which also involved migrants held aboard a different Italian coast guard vessel. Salvini’s League party is currently in the opposition.
Italy’s Senate sends Salvini to trial for kidnapping
EPA-EFE/RADEK PIETRUSZKA POLAND OUT
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy Matteo Salvini attends a press conference at the Italian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, 09 January 2019. Salvini came to Warsaw at the invitation of the Polish Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski. The Italian politician also met with the leader of Poland's ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
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