European Right Unites Behind Salvini in Latest Case of Lawfare
“Defending the borders of your country is not a crime but a virtue,” Geert Wilders said after prosecutors appealed the deputy PM’s acquittal in the ‘Open Arms’ migrant case.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Italian Lega party Matteo Salvini delivers a speech during a meeting of Patriots for Europe in Madrid on February 8, 2025.
Thomas Coex / AFP
“Defending the borders of your country is not a crime but a virtue,” Geert Wilders said after prosecutors appealed the deputy PM’s acquittal in the ‘Open Arms’ migrant case.
Matteo Salvini has received public support from some of Europe’s most influential rightwing figures after Palermo prosecutors filed an appeal to overturn his acquittal in the ‘Open Arms’ migrant case.
The Italian deputy prime minister was late last year found innocent of all charges in the case relating to the blocking of an NGO ship from unloading illegal migrants in Lampedusa. He had faced up to six years in prison.
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán bashed the appeal as putting “leftist absurdity on full display,” adding that Salvini was simply doing “what every responsible leader should do: defend his country’s borders.”
This isn’t justice, it’s a political vendetta. We stand with Matteo!
Salvini thanked the Hungarian PM for his backing and stressed “I won’t back down.”
Support also came from the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders, who himself has just been subjected to (another) death threat. Wilders said the appeal was “a disgrace and a politically motivated move by leftish prosecutors” and agreed that “defending the borders of your country is not a crime but a virtue.”
And in France, Marine Le Pen lamented that “the persecution knows no bounds anymore.”
The appeal filed by the Palermo prosecutor’s office against Matteo Salvini’s acquittal, outrageously prosecuted for preventing illegal immigrants from landing in Italy when he was minister of the interior, demonstrates a relentlessness that no one can ignore anymore.
Salvini himself has stressed that he is “not scared,” tagging his own persecution to a long list of attacks against right-wing politicians across Europe, against whom he pointed to “a clear orchestration in the Soros style.”
Leftist absurdity on full display – Italian prosecutors are appealing @matteosalvinimi’s acquittal in the ‘Open Arms’ case for doing what every responsible leader should do: defend his country’s borders. This isn’t justice, it’s a political vendetta. We stand with Matteo! 🇮🇹
Same here, the decision to appeal the acquittal of our friend and ally @matteosalvinimi is a disgrace and a political motivated move by leftish prosecutors. Defending the borders of your country is not a crime but a virtue.
La persécution n’a plus aucune limite. L’appel formé par le parquet de Palerme contre l’acquittement de Matteo Salvini, scandaleusement poursuivi pour avoir empêché des clandestins de débarquer en Italie lorsqu’il était ministre de l’Intérieur, démontre un acharnement qui…
Outside of Europe too, Brazilian politician Eduardo Bolsonaro—son of former president Jair Bolsonaro—said that “neither you nor I, Salvini, came into this world to take a stroll, and we know that a man’s life requires sacrifices. We will prevail!”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
