Prosecutors in Italy are seeking a six-year prison sentence for Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini over his decision in August 2019 to deny a migrant boat access to the water.
The ship, which is managed by the charity Open Arms, was held at sea for almost three weeks before being allowed to dock at the island of Lampedusa by a judge.
Salvini, then interior minister, denies the accusations of kidnapping and dereliction of duty.
On Saturday he said he wanted to prevent Italy from becoming a “refugee camp for the whole of Europe” and declared himself “guilty of defending Italy and the Italians”.
The ship Opens Arms was carrying 147 migrants. They had been picked up off the Libyan coast when it was not allowed to dock in Lampedusa.
The island, located halfway across the Mediterranean Sea towards the Italian mainland, has been been a landing point for thousands of migrants trying to enter Europe.
As interior minister, Salvini introduced a policy of “closed ports,” which he claimed would remove incentives for people smugglers.
Crew members testified during the trial that the welfare and hygienic conditions of the migrants on board the ship deteriorated during the period the ship was detained at sea, resulting in, among other things, an outbreak of scabies.
Public prosecutor Geri Ferrara told the court in Sicily that there is “one important principle on which there can be no discussion”.
“Along with human rights and the protection of state sovereignty, it is human rights that must prevail in our fortunate democratic system,” he said.
In January, Salvini testified that he had understood that “the situation (on the ship) was not in danger”.
A verdict in the trial, which started in October 2021could come next month. If convicted, Salvini could also be barred from holding government office.
Responding to the requested punishment for X, Salvini said that “defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, not now and never.”
“Thanks to the actions of my government, the number of landings, deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean has decreased,” he said.
“This Spanish ship was never stopped from going anywhere except Italy. We could no longer be the refugee camp for all of Europe.
“No government and no minister in history has ever been accused or tried for defending the borders of his own country.”
According to UN dataThe number of arrivals by ship in Italy fell to 11,471 in 2019, significantly lower than the figures in the years before or after.
Salvini is the leader of the Lega Nord party, which opposes illegal migration, and is part of a coalition government with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Five Star Movement.
On Saturday, Meloni expressed her “full solidarity” with Salvini.
“It is incredible that a minister of the Italian Republic risks six years in prison for carrying out his task of defending the country’s borders, as required by the mandate received from the citizens,” she wrote on X.
“Making a crime of the duty to protect Italy’s borders from illegal immigration sets a very serious precedent.”
