Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has been acquitted of kidnap and failing to fulfill his public duties.
An Italian court has found him not guilty of refusing to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Sicily in 2019.
The vessel, operated by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea with more than 100 migrants on board for 19 days due to his denial of disembarking on Lampedusa island.
Some migrants jumped into the sea in desperation amid an “extreme humanitarian emergency” on board.
Mr Salvini, who attended the hearing inside the Pagliarelli prison’s bunker courtroom in Palermo along with Open Arms founder Oscar Camps, was serving as Italy’s interior minister in 2019.
At that time, Mr Salvini was implementing his policy of closing Italian ports to humanitarian rescue ships while accusing them of encouraging people smugglers.
He has always denied any wrongdoing, explaining he would do it all again. “Defending borders from illegal immigrants is not a crime,” he repeatedly said in relation to the case. Entering the courtroom on Friday morning, he said “it’s a great day”.
Mr Salvini, who is also Italy’s transport minister and leader of the right-wing League party in the government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was risking being banned from holding government office if he was found guilty.
Sky News understood he was not going to resign in case of a conviction.
Mr Salvini has been fully backed by his government partners, including Ms Meloni, and his European allies.
Early this week in Brussels, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Spanish Vox leader Santiago Abascal posed for a picture with Salvini holding a T-shirt showing his face and the message “guilty of having defended Italy”.
On the day before the acquittal, Elon Musk expressed solidarity too. “Crazy that Salvini is being tried for defending Italy! He did the right thing,” Musk posted on his X account.
Friday’s decision came following a three-year-long criminal trial, 24 hearings and 45 witnesses, including US actor Richard Gere.
Since taking power in 2022, Ms Meloni’s government has moved to crack down on migration.
She recently tried to set up a controversial agreement with Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama to process asylum seekers in Italian-run centres in Albania.