Open Arms case attempted attack on govt says Salvini

By Left, also against right to defend national borders

By: ansa.it

Sep 16 2024
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Open Arms case attempted attac

The Open Arms case, in which Matteo Salvini faces a six-year jail request for allegedly kidnapping 147 migrants aboard the Spanish NGO run ship for three weeks in 2019, is an attempted attack on the government, the deputy premier, transport minister and former hardline anti-immigration interior minister said Monday.
    "I thank the government and the majority parties for their great and affectionate solidarity," Salvini said after a meeting of his rightwing League party's federal council.
    "It is a political trial and an attempt by the Left to attack the government and the right to defend national borders," said the minister, who operated a congroversial closed ports policy against NGO run rescue ships during his time as interior minister.
    Meanwhile his lawyer Giulia Bongiorno, a Lega Nord senator, said after the meeting: "There are no weapons. There is no desire to exacerbate clashes with the judiciary. There is absolute and full trust in the judiciary, but at the same time there is awareness that there are some anomalies in this trial. We trust in a favourable conclusion." Se was answering reporters who asked her whether there will be a 'call to arms' by the League around the secretary after a prosecutor requested the six-year term.