Prosecutors have appealed last year’s acquittal against Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini over his blocking of an NGO boat from dumping illegals into the country in 2019.
Salvini and his allies have claimed that the judiciary is embarking upon lawfare efforts to criminalise protecting Italy’s borders, as prosecutors in Palermo said on Friday that they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation in a bid to overturn a decision clearing the populist League leader in December, public wire agency ANSA reports.
The case concerned the blocking of the Spanish NGO Open Arms boat from docking at the Italian island of Lampedusa and dropping off 147 illegal migrants in 2019 for three weeks. Prosecutors alleged that the then-Interior Minister’s actions amounted to kidnapping and sought a six-year prison sentence.
The charges were dismissed in December after judges in Sicily found that the facts did not warrant a criminal conviction against Salvini, who argued that he was merely fulfilling the democratic will of the people in defending Italy from illegal immigration.
State attorneys now argue that the decision as to whether to allow the Spanish boat to disembark “was not up to Italy”, as it should have been determined by international law, claiming that national security was not threatened by allowing the illegals into the country.
The prosecutors said on Friday that they have filed a per saltum (by a leap) petition, which will allow them to take their appeal directly to the Supreme Court without having to go through the standard appeals process.
Responding to the appeal announcement, Salvini said per RAI: “I’ve had over thirty hearings, the Tribunal has me acquitted because the fact does not exist recognizing that defending borders is not a crime. Evidently, someone won’t give up, let’s move on: I won’t worry.”
Allies also rallied around the Italian Deputy PM, including former Romanian presidential candidate George Simion, who described the prosecution as “judicial warfare” and “symptomatic” of a broader effort to target populist politicians, as has also been the case in Romania.
Italian Prime Minsiter Giorgia Meloni added: “It’s surreal, this relentless pursuit, after a failed three-year trial – against a minister who wanted to enforce the law – concluded with a full acquittal.
“I wonder what Italians think of all this energy and resources spent in this way, while thousands of honest citizens await justice.”
It comes amid continued legal wrangling between Rome and judges in Italy and abroad over Meloni’s attempts to send illegal migrants directly to detention centres in Albania, rather than allowing them to remain in Italy while their asylum claims are processed.
As in the Salvini case, the judiciary has claimed that the national government should not have final say over immigration, in this instance, over which countries should be considered safe for the return of illegals.
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