Salvini's League Leader was again brought before the court of migrants on the ship

The preliminary meeting of the Palermo court in the Auli-bunsk in the Ucciardone prison, where mob trials are held, concerns events of August 2019, when Salvini as Home Secretary for three weeks did not allow a NGO ship with over a hundred migrants on board, where there were terrible conditions in the heat.

At the time, by his decision, the Italian ports were closed to ships importing migrants rescued at sea. The impasse unblocked the Agrigento court, ordering the ship to be immediately taken to port and released people to land.

In a similar case of holding migrants in the Italian Coast Guard unit Gregoretti in 2019, Salvini, the leader of the opposition, and now Senator, is being tried in Catania.

The first hearing was devoted to formal issues, including granting the status of parties injured to seven migrants from the Open Arms ship, its captain and the organization to which the unit belongs.

Salvini told journalists: "The Spanish ship Open Arms refused to leave for Malta, a cruise to Spain despite two offers from the authorities and the Spanish ship, thus putting migrants at risk. Now two of the refugees are in prison, 44 escaped, but the trial comes to a minister who without the dead and injured defended the rights and borders of his country".

Then the leader of the right-wing League added: "I have a trial in the Auli-bunkra, where the mafia trials took place, judge for yourself."

His attorney Giulia Bongiorno argued before the court that the ban on the entry of the Open Arms into the port was not an individual decision of Salvini, but of the entire government.

The trial was postponed until January 14.

Source: PAP