Italy’s deputy PM Matteo Salvini cleared over 2019 stand-off with migrant ship

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An Italian court has ruled that deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini committed no crime when he refused to allow a Spanish charity ship carrying nearly 150 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea to disembark in Italy six years ago.

The three-judge panel acquitted Salvini, then Italy’s interior minister, of the crimes of abduction and dereliction of duty in connection with the 19-day stand-off with the vessel Open Arms.

Prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term for Salvini — the leader of the far-right League party — a demand that sparked fierce condemnation by rightwing leaders in Italy, Europe and beyond.

But in their verdict, the judges ruled that the facts of the event did not support the allegations of which Salvini was accused.

“Common sense has won,” a jubilant Salvini declared after the verdict was delivered in a Palermo courtroom on Friday night. “Defending the borders, defending the homeland, opposing smugglers, traffickers, and foreign NGOs, and protecting our children is not a crime, but a right.”

“Entering Italy requires rules, limits, controls,” he added. “Those who use immigrants for political battles have lost today.”

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed delight at the “great news”, a rare legal victory for her rightwing government, which has suffered growing tensions with the judiciary over efforts to curb irregular migration into Italy.

Meloni has blamed Italian immigration judges for obstructing her signature plan to hold irregular migrants rescued from the Mediterranean in Italian-run offshore detention centres in Albania. 

The centres — for which Rome has awarded contracts worth €151mn — remain empty, as Italian immigration judges have refused to approve the detention of asylum seekers there.

“Defending the borders of Italy can never be a crime,” Meloni wrote after Salvini’s acquittal, pledging to continue “with tenacity and determination to fight illegal immigration”.

The 2019 stand-off between Salvini and Open Arms reflects the deep hostility of Italy’s rightwing parties towards humanitarian groups that rescue people in danger of drowning while trying to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe.

Meloni and her allies believe such charity rescue ships encourage more migrants to undertake the dangerous crossing — and her government has imposed ever tighter restrictions on their activities, including impounding their vessels.

Salvini has always remained unrepentant for his 2019 stance, even as conditions aboard the ship worsened due to turbulent weather and at least 15 of those trapped on the ship threw themselves overboard in a desperate attempt to reach land.

That showdown finally ended with an Italian court order that the passengers be allowed to disembark, but only after the plight of the migrants drew international attention, including from celebrities such as Richard Gere, Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem.   

During the trial, Palermo prosecutors argued that Salvini should be convicted of kidnapping because he had “deprived [migrants] of their freedom” as a stunt “to bolster his image as an uncompromising politician in the management of migration”.

However, Salvini’s defence lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, a senator from his League party, contended that Open Arms could have taken the passengers elsewhere, including Spain, rather than insisting on docking in Italy. “There is no right to choose where, when and how to land migrants and how many migrants,” she said.

Salvini’s legal battle may not be over yet, though, as prosecutors — and lawyers for Open Arms — could still appeal against the ruling to the next level of Italy’s three-tier judicial system.

Ahead of the verdict on Friday, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump, wrote on his social media platform X that it was “crazy that Salvini is being tried for defending Italy”.

European far-right politicians — from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Spain’s Santiago Abascal, president of Vox, had also expressed solidarity.