Open Arms trial: Meloni defends Salvini who faces six years in prison.

Italian prosecutors on Saturday requested a six-year jail sentence for Italy's former interior minister and current deputy premier Matteo Salvini on charges of abduction and refusal to perform official duties, for his role in preventing the landing in Italy of 147 migrants saved by the NGO Open Arms five years ago.

Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega party, has been on trial in Palermo since 2021, accused of the kidnapping of migrants on board the rescue ship when he was interior minister in former premier Giuseppe Conte's first government, in August 2019.

After Salvini refused to grant the ship permission to dock, the migrants were stuck on the Spanish rescue ship for 19 days off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

È incredibile che un Ministro della Repubblica Italiana rischi 6 anni di carcere per aver svolto il proprio lavoro difendendo i confini della Nazione, così come richiesto dal mandato ricevuto dai cittadini. Trasformare in un crimine il dovere di proteggere i confini italiani…— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) September 14, 2024

In a post on X, Italian prime minister and leader of the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party Giorgia Meloni expressed her "total solidarity" with her government coalition partner Salvini, who in addition to deputy premier serves as Italy's transport minister.

"It is incredible that a minister of the Italian Republic risks six years in prison for having carried out his job defending the borders of the nation, as required by the mandate received from the citizens" - Meloni wrote - "Transforming the duty to protect the Italian borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent."

Salvini was also defended by his fellow deputy premier and leader of the centre-right Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani.

"Matteo Salvini did his duty as interior minister to defend legality" - Tajani wrote on X - "Asking for six years in prison for this reason seems an unreasonable choice and moreover without any legal basis."

Salvini also received support from X owner Elon Musk who commented: "That mad prosecutor should be the one who goes to prison for 6 years."

Salvini, 51, has insisted that preventing irregular migrants from disembarking in Italy was government policy at the time, claiming that the decision to block the Open Arms ship was reached collectively within the government.

6 anni di carcere per aver bloccato gli sbarchi e difeso l’Italia e gli Italiani? Follia.
Difendere l’Italia non è un reato e io non mollo, né ora né mai. pic.twitter.com/auWMYHBqsM— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) September 14, 2024

In a video post on X, Salvini said: "Six years in prison for blocking landings and defending Italy and Italians? Madness. Defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, not now, not ever."

Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com.