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February 17, 2020 "The indication of the Pos (Place of Safety, safe landing) was up to Spain or Malta (and certainly not Italy) and the ship's master deliberately refused the Pos indicated subsequently by Madrid, losing precious time only aim of disembarking immigrants in Sicily as he had already done in March 2018 by obtaining a trial for private violence and aiding illegal immigration ". These are some of the most significant passages in the memory that Senator Matteo Salvini deposited with the Junta for immunities regarding the Open Arms case, the merchant ship flying the Spanish flag and rented by the NGO Pro-Activa Open Arms which in August arrived in Italy after a long standoff with European countries and beyond.

Salvini reconstructs the story by recalling that the first countries contacted and informed by Open Arms after the rescue operations were Spain (the ship's flag country) and Malta (the area closest to the bailout point).

"Italy had no competence and no obligation with regard to all the rescues carried out by the Spanish ship Open Arms as they occurred entirely outside its areas", explains the then Minister of the Interior. To prove it, the exchange of correspondence between Valletta and Madrid in the first days of August 2019 regarding the Pos: there is a mutual dribble of responsibility but Rome is never mentioned. Contrary to what was claimed by the Palermo court, for Salvini "it is certainly the flag state of the ship that provided the rescue that the Pos must indicate in cases of operations carried out independently by NGO ships".

Open Arms asked the Pos to Italy on the evening of August 2, but according to Salvini, the burden of a response from other states cannot fall on the Italian state. Open Arms could head to other countries that had an obligation to welcome it.

On August 1, the decree signed by the Ministry of the Interior, Defense and Infrastructure prevented the Open Arms from entering, stopping and transit and nothing changed the provision of the Tar of August 14: the entry into territorial waters cannot be confused, for security purposes and navigation and assistance to people in need, with the right to disembark and dock. This was confirmed by the same lawyers of Open Arms who on 19 August asked for an integration to the previous TAR precautionary decree to allow landing and landing.

Salvini recalls that the boat was approved for only 19 people. The commander, after the first rescue carried out in the Libyan area on August 1 with 55 people brought on board, took another 69 on August 2: he had to immediately go to Spain, Malta or Tunisia. Instead, "the commander deliberately chose Italy as the place of docking and disembarkation".

In fact, we read in the memo, the captain refused the Pos issued by Spain on August 18 and even refused the assistance offered by the Italian Harbor Office which had said it was available to accompany the ship to Spain, taking some immigrants on board. In addition, Spain itself had sent the Audaz unit to Lampedusa to assist the Open Arms (18 August). It is therefore paradoxical to affirm that, for the mere fact of having entered Italian waters without having obtained the Pos, the crime of kidnapping could occur.

For Salvini, the events of August 2019 are similar to those of 16 March 2018, which had involved Open Arms and the same commander and with respect to which the Ragusa prosecutor had already asked for the indictment (accusations: private violence and aiding the illegal immigration. The Interior Ministry is an injured party).