The Italian Senate authorized on Wednesday February 12 the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of the former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini. The head of the Italian far right could therefore be brought to justice, accused of kidnapping people for having blocked a migrant boat off Sicily in July 2019.

If the official result has not yet been communicated, the electronic scoreboard with the result of the vote, seen by several AFP journalists, clearly indicated for a few seconds that he was brought to justice. This result was also confirmed by all the Italian media.

A Sicilian court in Catania accuses Matteo Salvini of "abuse of power and forcible confinement of people" for having blocked 116 migrants last summer for several days on board an Italian coast guard vessel, the Gregoretti. In the event of a trial, he would face 15 years' imprisonment.

The far-right leader, who was elected a senator in 2018, is liable to fifteen years in prison and risks being declared ineligible if found guilty. The procedure should last for years.

Salivini claims his "duty" to defend the country

Before the vote, Matteo Salvini had claimed on Wednesday his "duty" to defend the country. "I will not go to this courtroom to defend myself, I will go to proudly claim what I have done," he said to the senators, reiterating that it was his "duty" to defend. the borders of the country when he was Minister of the Interior.

He mixed irony with his opponents and invoked his children, as he often does. "My two children have the right to know that if their father was often away from home, it was not to kidnap people but to defend the country's borders and security," he said.

"The adversaries must be beaten in the ballot boxes, not in the courts", also launched the chief of the extreme right, which built on the fight against immigration his rise and that of his party, which the polls give to around 30% of voting intentions, the first in Italy.

A hundred migrants stranded for a week

On July 25, 2019, the day more than 110 people disappeared in a shipwreck off Libya, the military ship Gregoretti had taken on board 140 migrants, who had left the Libyan coast a few days earlier on two boats and were rescued by guards. Italian coasts.

Migrants had been evacuated for medical reasons, but 116 others had remained on the ship for almost a week, for lack of authorization to disembark.

The Italian Constitution allows Parliament to block proceedings against a minister if the elected representatives consider that he has acted within the framework of his functions and in the best interests of the state. But since most political forces intend to vote for the lifting of his immunity, the prospect of a trial is likely.

With AFP

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