Italian court acquits Matteo Salvini in migrant ‘kidnapping’ case

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was acquitted Friday on kidnapping charges over his decision in 2019 to block a migrant rescue ship carrying more than 140 people from coming ashore in Italy.

Salvini, who was serving as Italy’s interior minister at the time, prevented the disembarkation of 147 people, including children, rescued by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, leaving the ship stranded at sea for 19 days.

The court on Friday ruled that there was no case to answer.

“I am happy,” said Salvini after the acquittal. “After three years the [far-right party] League has won, Italy has won. Defending the Fatherland is not a crime but a right. I will go on even more determined than before.”

The news of Salvini’s acquittal was met with applause and chants of “Matteo, Matteo” from the center-right benches in the Italian parliament, where lawmakers were working on the budget.

“There is a judge in Palermo! A hug to Matteo Salvini,” wrote Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“Justice has prevailed, bravo Matteo Salvini, another victory for the Patriots for Europe,” wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

In September, the prosecutor asked for a six-year prison term for Salvini as well as compensation of more than €1 million for damages if the court had found him guilty.

The appeals process following the verdict could still take years.

Salvini repeatedly defended himself throughout the trial, saying he “simply protected the country’s borders,” by preventing the migrants from landing on Italian soil, and that he was doing “what Italians had asked him to do: defending the nation.”

Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other members of the government have showed constant support for Salvini over the past few months.

“It is incredible that a Minister of the Italian Republic risks 6 years in prison for having done his job defending the borders of the Nation, as required by the mandate received from the citizens,” Meloni wrote on Sept. 14, on the day the prosecutor requested six years in prison for Salvini.

Following Meloni’s comments, opposition leader Elly Schlein criticized her for commenting on an ongoing trial. “I found the intervention of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni very inappropriate,” she said. “We think that the executive and judicial powers are separate and autonomous. Therefore, institutional respect would require not commenting on open trials.”

Speaking in front of the Italian Senate on Wednesday, Meloni reiterated her support for the minister. “Salvini gets the solidarity of the entire government,” she said.

In the European Parliament on Thursday, members of the far-right Patriots for Europe group, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and leader of the Spanish Vox party Santiago Abascal, posed for a picture with Salvini holding a t-shirt with his face and the message “guilty of having defended Italy.”

“Crazy that Salvini is being tried for defending Italy!” tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote on Thursday. “You did the right thing.”