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Former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini appeared in court on Saturday in the Sicilian capital Palermo for the opening hearing in the trial over his 2019 role in preventing the Open Arms migrant rescue ship from docking at an Italian port.
The prosecution accuses Salvini of deprivation of liberty and abuse of authority, after he prevented the Spanish aid organisation's ship from entering a port in August 2019 during his time as minister.
The head of the right-wing Lega party could face 15 years in prison if convicted.

Salvini was interior minister from June 2018 to September 2019 in the first cabinet of ex-prime minister Giuseppe Conte.
On the opening day, the court dealt mainly with the issue of who would be called to testify at the trial.
Besides Conte, it will question former government adviser Luciana Lamorgese, who is now the interior minister, as well as Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who was minister for labour and social policy at the time, during the trial, the ANSA and Adnkronos news agencies reported on Saturday.
Salvini pursued what was considered a harsh anti-migration line.
In August 2019, the Open Arms vessel had rescued more than 160 people in distress in the Mediterranean Sea over the course of three interventions starting on August 1, according to information supplied by the aid organisation about its 65th mission.
Italy’s Matteo Salvini loses immunity and will face trial in migrant ship kidnap case
Nine days later, US actor Richard Gere had brought supplies onto the ship, together with other helpers. Time and again, the authorities evacuated people from the ship for medical reasons.
According to the reports, Gere will also be called to testify, the court decided, after the lawyer representing Open Arms had pressed for him to be admitted as a witness.
The Open Arms was moored off Lampedusa from around mid-August, but was not allowed to dock there. The sanitary situation and tension on board came to a head. Desperate people kept jumping into the water in an attempt to swim ashore.
In the end, the public prosecutor's office arranged for the Open Arms to be impounded following an inspection on board, which meant that it could dock with the remaining migrants.
Salvini repeatedly stressed that his actions had been in defence of Italy and in the government's interest. The trial formally began on September 15 but was immediately postponed, as had been expected, to October 23.

After the opening hearing, Salvini's lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, told journalists that the ship had had to wait so long because it had taken time to clarify responsibilities. She also argued that, in her view, deprivation of liberty did not apply in the case because the Open Arms had the option of travelling to Spain or Malta at the time.
Salvini said, in his view, Italy had not been responsible at the time, as the ship was sailing under a Spanish flag.
The 48-year-old also questioned the court's admission of Gere as a witness. “Tell me, how serious can a trial be with Richard Gere coming from Hollywood to testify about my wickedness?” he asked.
The next hearing was scheduled for December 17, according to Open Arms.


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Italy

Italy’s Matteo Salvini goes on trial in Sicily for role in blocking migrant ship in 2019

Matteo Salvini, centre, in front of the Pagliarelli prison after a hearing on the Open Arms trial in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 13, 2019 A mask of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini lies on lifejackets as protesters march during a demonstration in Barcelona called by Spanish non-governmental organisation Proactiva Open Arms against the criminalisation of migrant rescue missions. - Italy's former interior minister and far-right leader Matteo Salvini went on trial on October 23, 2021 for allegedly illegally blocking over 100 migrants in dire sanitary conditions from disembarking from a rescue ship in August 2019. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP)

FILE- In this Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 file photo, actor Richard Gere attends amfAR's annual New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Gere is getting a George Eastman Award in upstate New York for his contributions to movies and humanitarian causes. The star of such films as "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Pretty Woman" will be honored Feb. 16 during a ceremony at Rochester's George Eastman House, the restored home of the founder of photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, FILE)

Polish mothers protest against migrant pushbacks at Belarus border

A woman holds a banner reading ‘Auschwitz did not come out of nowhere’ as she takes part in protest initiated by Polish mothers in Michalowo, Poland on Saturday. Photo: AFP

People take part in demonstration initiated by Polish mothers in front of the border guard office in Micholowo to protest against the deportation of migrants to Belarus on October 23, 2021. - Chanting "shame" and "no one is illegal", Polish mothers rallied near the border with Belarus on October 23, 2021 to protest pushbacks of children and other migrants trying to cross into the EU. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP)

Thousands of migrant workers moved after 4 civilians killed in Indian Kashmir

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a road south of Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, on Saturday. Photo: AP

Indian police personnel carry the body of a street vendor who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, at a hospital in Srinagar on October 16, 2021. (Photo by - / AFP)

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Italy’s former interior minister is accused of deprivation of liberty and abuse of authority for preventing a rescue ship from entering Italy in 2019
It was reported that US actor Richard Gere, who had brought supplies to the ship together with other helpers, will be called to testify during the trial



Italy’s former interior minister is accused of deprivation of liberty and abuse of authority for preventing a rescue ship from docking at an Italian port in 2019.


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