Together with Borrell – Salvini trial: Merkel could testify as a witness

Salvini is accused of refusing to disembark migrants rescued from Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 2019. In August of that year, he banned the Spanish rescue ship “Open Arms” with 147 migrants on board from entering the port of Lampedusa for six days.

Video review September 2023: Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salvini describes the arrival of thousands of boat migrants in Lampedusa as an “act of war”

Salvini faces fifteen years in prison
Merkel and Borrell’s possible statements, which would have to be approved by the court, would focus on Italy’s responsibility in declaring a safe haven to the ship’s crew. The trial against Salvini has been running since September 2022. The charges are deprivation of liberty and abuse of office. He faces fifteen years in prison. The request to summon Merkel and Borrell could be formalized at the next hearing on June 14 in Palermo.

Salvini protected against the ‘rush’ of refugees
The Lega leader was Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte between June 2018 and August 2019. With his policy of ‘closed ports’ he had protected Italy from a ‘flow’ of refugees, he argued.

Salvini emphasized that Prime Minister Conte and the other cabinet members had supported his tough stance on migration. All decisions he made regarding migration were shared by the government at the time.