The first hearing of the Open Arms trial ended in a courtroom of the Pagliarelli prison in Palermo. After an interlocutory debate, waiting for the parties to examine the documents to be included in the trial file, the trial of Matteo Salvini will resume on 17 December next.
The former interior minister is accused of kidnapping for delaying the docking in a port of the Spanish NGO ship loaded with migrants rescued in the Mediterranean. Salvini, who arrived in Palermo yesterday, is present in the courtroom, sitting next to his lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno. The accusation is supported by the prosecutor of Palermo, Francesco Lo Voi, while the Second Section of the Court of Palermo is chaired by Roberto Murgia.
Subject of the hearing, the preliminary acquisition of documents and the list of witnesses to be interrogated. Ministers and former ministers, the former premier Conte and also the actor Richard Gere will parade on the witness stand at the trial of the former interior minister Matteo Salvini, accused of kidnapping and omission of official documents for having banned the landing of 147 migrants rescued by the Spanish ship Open Arms.
The defense had expressed its perplexity about the presence of the American actor and even the prosecution admitted that this is not a decisive testimony, speaking of “spectacle and resonance that do not interest the Prosecutor”. Despite this, then Gere will be called to court in Palermo. Just yesterday, Salvini said to himself amused: «What would I do if I found myself in front of Gere? I’d ask him for an autograph for my mom. ‘
It already seems clear that Bongiorno’s defensive strategy is to politicize the process. In fact, he asked that the “contract” signed by Lega and Movimento 5Stelle in giving life to Count I be included among the documents to the attention of the court, and which would demonstrate that the hard line on immigration was in the government program. Ditto for the newspaper articles which, according to Bongiorno, show that the expectations of migrants on ships off the Italian ports continued even with Conte II, when Salvini was no longer at the Viminale but the current minister, Luciana Lamorgese.
Salvini did not speak to the journalists, many of them Spanish, who were waiting for him outside the prison. But, his spokesman said, he took advantage of a pause in the trial to call Silvio Berlusconi and decide to meet together with the Lega and Forza Italia ministers this week. Outside, however, Oscar Camps, founder of Open Arms spoke: «Why am I here today? Because we want to get justice. We don’t do politics, we save people. Politics has nothing to do with everyone, and even the state, where they save lives in danger ». Also outside the structure, a flash mob against Salvini by some young people from the Our Voice cultural movement should be noted: “Mr. Salvini, is this how you save innocent lives?”, It says on a sign.