Mateo Salvini: Six Years in Prison for the Open Arms Case Calls Palermo’s Prosecutorship

His Sicilian prosecutor requested today (14/09/2024) a sentence to six years in prison for , Lega secretary, Deputy Prime Minister Meloni and Minister of Transport. The case tried in Palermo concerns Mateo Salvini’s decision not to allow, when he was Minister of Interior in August 2019, the landing in Lower Italy of 147 migrants and refugees rescued from the ship of the Spanish non-governmental organization Open Arms. “There is a basic principle, which cannot be questioned. Between human rights and the protection of state sovereignty, based on our democratic principles, the first must always prevail,” prosecutor Jerry Ferrara said in his speech. “Anyone in danger and at sea must be rescued. Regardless of whether he is a passenger, a crew member or an immigrant,” he added. Mateo Salvini is accused of depriving migrants of freedom and refusing to proceed with enforced actions by the state apparatus. For its part, Salvini’s defense attorney, Julia Bunjorno, stressed that “by today’s speech, the prosecutor opposes government orders concerning immigration, against the line on which it should first be decided to redistribute immigrants and only then follow their landing.”