Open Arms, Palermo prosecutor's office challenges Salvini's acquittal. The minister: Defending borders is not a crime.

The Palermo Prosecutor's Office has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Cassation against the ruling acquitting Lega leader Matteo Salvini of kidnapping and refusal to perform official duties in the Open Arms affair . This is a so-called "appeal per saltum," which allows the appeal to be avoided and a ruling directly from the Supreme Court.

After a lengthy trial before the Palermo court in which he was accused of having unlawfully detained a group of migrants rescued at sea in August 2019 on board the ship of the NGO Open Arms , preventing the vessel from landing in Lampedusa, Salvini was acquitted on December 20.

"I've attended more than thirty hearings, and the Court acquitted me because there was no evidence, recognizing that defending the borders is not a crime . Clearly, some people won't accept this. Let's move on: I'm not worried." This is how Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini commented on the Palermo prosecutor's decision. He then added: " There is no conflict between politics and the judiciary over the Open Arms case, and in fact, I thank the Palermo Court and endorse all 268 pages justifying my complete acquittal, which came after dozens of hearings and years of investigation."

And his lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, is on the same line, believing that the Palermo court's ruling is "complete and timely in fact and unexceptionable in law" .

The reasons for the sentence were filed in June . The Prosecutor's Office opted to appeal directly to the Supreme Court of Cassation , which is the supreme court, arguing that the acquittal does not refute the reconstruction of facts presented by the prosecution, which are therefore established , but merely states, misinterpreting international laws and conventions, that Italy was not obliged to assign the Spanish vessel a safe port (POS). Therefore, according to the prosecutors, a new appeal trial would be pointless .

"Even in the Open Arms case, it must be concluded that the alleged lack of competence of the Minister to issue the POS, a sufficient condition to exclude the defendant's liability for both crimes, cannot but result, given the specific protection that the legal system reserves for personal freedom and the structure of the two crimes, in the omission of a reason, in violation of Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This is even more true if one considers the acquittal formula used, which, given the acknowledged detention of the migrants on board and the equally acknowledged lack of positive intervention by the Minister, is not supported by any plausible legal reason, or rather, by any explanation." This is what the Palermo Prosecutor's Office wrote in its appeal against the acquittal.

The Court, after eight hours of deliberation, acquitted the minister of the charges of kidnapping and refusal to perform official duties. According to the judges, "the assignment of the POS (place of safety) was not Italy's responsibility," and therefore Matteo Salvini's, while Open Arms was wrong to remain "obstinately waiting" for a safe port in our country. For this reason, the judges acquitted the League leader, not without addressing several issues: the ban on entry into Italian waters was unlawful, instrumental, and based on "mere conjecture."

Furthermore, the rationale for granting the POS only after securing a redistribution agreement from other European countries, as adopted by the Conte I government and thus also by Salvini, is not based on any legislation and is therefore "questionable, to say the least." The League leader, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Transport was charged with kidnapping and refusal to perform official duties for events that occurred in 2019: as Interior Minister, he had denied disembarkation for nineteen days to 147 migrants, including 27 minors, rescued in three separate operations by the Spanish NGO Open Arms. The prosecution had requested a six-year prison sentence.

"If Salvini is responsible for what he did, I consider myself morally responsible as well." This was Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi's statement at the fourth annual "Talk about the Mafia" event, after the Palermo prosecutor's office appealed his acquittal.

"With profound respect for all judicial processes, including the legitimate decision of a prominent judicial office like the Palermo Prosecutor's Office, challenging an acquittal that had been handed down, and interpreting it very forcefully with an affirmation of very clear principles, I regret it first of all on a human, personal, and professional level." The minister recalled that during the period of the disputed events, he was Minister Salvini's cabinet chief and was a co-investigator in the investigation, before his position was removed by the judicial authorities. "I regret it for human and professional reasons," Piantedosi added, "and also for legal reasons." "I am convinced that in this case too, it will inevitably lead to an acquittal, even at the second instance or in the Supreme Court of Cassation, and to the legitimacy of the action."

"The facts have been fully acknowledged and reconstructed in the first-instance trial. We await notification and the appeal, but we have full confidence in the work of the Palermo prosecutor's office." This is Open Arms' first immediate comment on the news of the Palermo prosecutor's appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation against Salvini's acquittal.