PALERMO, Italy: Italy’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini defended his hardline stance against illegal migration in court on Friday, saying his government had done useful service in blocking migrants from disembarking at an Italian port in 2019.
Salvini, is facing a trial on charges of deprivation of liberty and abuse of office for holding 147 migrants at sea for several weeks on a ship operated by an NGO, the Open Arms charity.
The blockade occurred in August 2019 when Salvini was interior minister in the then administration, made global headlines and drew condemnation from humanitarian groups.
In a court in Palermo, Sicily he said he took the action in full consciousness, adding he did a useful service for the country.
Salvini, could be awarded 15 years in prison if convicted in the case, which started in October 2021.
Italy implemented closed ports policy under PM Conte
Serving under prime minister Giuseppe Conte, in 2019, he implemented a “closed ports” policy under which Italy refused entry to charity ships that rescue migrants stranded while crossing the Mediterranean.
He termed it as a tough measure against traffickers who operate small migrant boats between North Africa and Italy and Malta.
Salvini in the court produced official emails and documents, to demonstrate how the entire Conte government was behind the strict migration policy.
Earlier, Conte in the trial said he tried to exercise moral suasion with Salvini, saying he believed that the decision to keep migrants onboard had no legal basis.
The ship remained at the sea for about three weeks before the migrants were finally allowed to disembark on the island of Lampedusa after a court order.
According to the Italian Interior ministry figures around 120,000 migrants arrived on Italy’s shores in 2017, around 23,400 in 2018 and 11,500 in 2019.
As per data from the UN’s migration agency 2,337 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea in 2018.
Official figures show last year more than 157,000 migrants arrived on Italy’s shores, up from 105,000 in 2022.
