Italy deputy PM on trial for blocking migrant boat

Prosecutors in Italy are seeking a six-year jail term for deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini over a decision in August 2019 to stop a migrant boat from docking.

The ship, operated by the Open Arms charity, was kept at sea for almost three weeks before being allowed to dock on the island of Lampedusa following a court order.

Salvini, who was then the interior minister, denies charges of kidnap and dereliction of duty.

On Saturday, he said he had wanted to stop Italy becoming a “refugee camp for all of Europe” and declared himself “guilty of defending Italy and Italians”.

The Opens Arms ship was carrying 147 migrants who had been picked up off the Libyan coast when it was prevented from docking in Lampedusa.

The island, situated around halfway across the Mediterranean towards the Italian mainland, has over recent years been a landing point for thousands of migrants trying to enter Europe.

As interior minister, Salvini implemented a “closed ports” policy that he argued would remove incentives for people smugglers.

Crewmembers have testified during the trial that the migrants’ wellbeing and sanitary conditions on board the ship deteriorated while it was being held offshore – resulting, among other things, in a scabies outbreak.

Prosecutor Geri Ferrara told the Sicily court that there was “one key principle that is not debatable”.

“Between human rights and the protection of state sovereignty, it is human rights that must prevail in our fortunately democratic system,” he said.

—BBC