Matteo Salvini has condemned a fresh legal move against him as political harassment, after Palermo prosecutors filed a direct appeal to overturn his acquittal in the Open Arms migrant case.
“I went through over thirty hearings, and the court acquitted me because the offence does not exist: defending the borders is not a crime,” Salvini said. “Clearly someone isn’t giving up, but I’m not worried.”
The prosecutors have bypassed the appeals court and taken the case straight to Italy’s Supreme Court, arguing that the December 2024 ruling failed to properly justify the acquittal. Salvini had been cleared of charges for blocking a Spanish NGO ship from docking in 2019 while serving as interior minister.
The appeal challenges the legal reasoning rather than the facts of the case.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi expressed regret over the latest appeal, voicing confidence that higher courts will again confirm Salvini’s innocence.
