• Italy: The Italian Government coalition cracks

The Italian Senate has voted this Wednesday in favor of withdrawing immunity from ultra-right-wing leader Matteo Salvini to be tried for blocking a ship with immigrants when he was Minister of the Interior, within the framework of its closed ports policy.

The Court of Ministers of Catania (south), which judges crimes committed by members of the Government, had requested the Senate to prosecute Salvini and, therefore, the plenary of the Upper House has ruled in favor of allowing him to appear before the Justice , withdrawing parliamentary immunity.

Salvini is accused of "kidnapping people" and "abuse of power" for blocking last August for five days, when he was head of the Interior, the landing in Italy of 131 immigrants rescued in the Mediterranean and welcomed in the military ship 'Gregoretti' .

The first step to its possible prosecution was on January 20 the Board for Immunities, a kind of Senate table, and the ultra-rightist surprised by having the senators of his party, the League, vote in favor of his prosecution.

Salvini's rivals blamed him for a strategy to present himself as a martyr , as he was in the middle of the regional elections campaign in Emilia Romagna (north) and Calabria (south).

The politician said today that he was "prepared to speak" in the Senate "with his head high and with the clear conscience of who has defended his land and his people," insisting that he always acted in defense of the borders and of the Italy security.

And in a message on his social networks he quoted the American poet Ezra Pound, vindicated by Italian fascist groups: "If a man is not willing to fight for his ideas, or his ideas are worthless, or he is worthless," he published , next to a photo of him.

Once the immunity to Salvini has been withdrawn, this decision does not ensure its direct prosecution but then the Court of Ministers will return the case to the ordinary courts, to the Court of Catania.

Then the Prosecutor's Office of that city, which in the past advocated filing the case, must formulate its position and decide what crimes it charges and, and based on that, the judge of the preliminary hearing must decide whether to open a formal trial against the political.

In Wednesday's vote, all eyes were on the government Five Star Movement (M5S), which in another similar case protected Salvini because they were then partners in the country's Government.

However, last August Salvini broke the coalition with the M5S to force an electoral advance, but failed because his hitherto allies formed a new government with the Democratic Party (PD) and other center-left forces, excluding him from power.

The result of the vote in the Senate will be revealed throughout this afternoon.

In his defense Salvini said he acted to protect Italy and in a coordinated manner with his then partners in the Executive, thus involving Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who is still in office.

The ultra-right-wing leader will face a similar process for blocking the Spanish NGO Open Arms ship with 150 immigrants for twenty days at sea, and the Senate should start assessing whether to withdraw its immunity from February 27.

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