Salvini Says He Was Defending Italy by Blocking Migrants: Stampa
- Senate to vote Wednesday on possible Salvini prosecution
- As interior minister, he refused access to rescued migrants
A migrant, part of a group of 47 including minors, on a rescue vessel anchored off Syracuse, Sicily.
Photographer: Federico Scoppa/AFP via Getty Images
Matteo Salvini insisted that he defended Italy by refusing to let stranded migrants enter the country when he was interior minister, as parliament prepares to vote this week on whether he should be prosecuted.
“It’s crazy, I don’t know how much it costs in terms of men and money to show I’m a criminal, but I’m not afraid and I’ll explain in court that I defended my country,” Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant League party, told newspaper La Stampa.
The full chamber of the Senate will vote Wednesday on whether Salvini should face prosecution for kidnapping for refusing to allow a coast guard ship that had rescued 131 migrants crossing the Mediterranean to dock in Sicily in July. Salvini says he was applying government policy and waiting for other European Union countries to accept the migrants.