Rome, Oct. 3, (dpa/GNA) – Italy’s far-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini exuded confidence on Friday, a day before a court hearing over migrant abuse charges that could lead to a long jail sentence.
Salvini faces kidnapping and dereliction of duties charges for delaying, when he was interior minister, the disembarkation of 131 migrants from the Gregoretti coastguard ship in July 2019.
“The only thing I am sorry about is not being able to spend Saturday morning with my children because I have to show up in court,” he said at a public event with supporters in Catania.
Starting from 9:30 am (0730 GMT), a pretrial judge in the Sicilian city was due to assess whether Salvini should be sent to trial. The judge was not expected to reach an immediate decision on Saturday.
“I am calm and serene. I don’t think I broke any law, but to have done what Italians asked of me,” Salvini, who leads the nationalist League party, tweeted earlier.
The court hearing was expected to take place in a politically charged atmosphere, as the League issued a nationwide appeal to its supporters to travel to Catania to show support for Salvini.
The party organized a three-day jamboree in the Sicilian city starting Thursday, including a Friday event in which Salvini addressed crowds while he was being interviewed on stage.
The hearing also comes ahead of Sunday and Monday local elections in more than 60 Sicilian municipalities, and run-off mayoral races in more than 50 other Italian cities.
After his Saturday hearing, the League leader was due to lead a rally at Catania’s port, flanked by other members of Italy’s conservative opposition bloc.
The leader of the hard-right Brothers of Italy party, Giorgia Meloni, and Antonio Tajani, deputy head of former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, were due to show up.
Salvini was likely to use the rally to burnish his leadership credentials after a string of less-than-stellar local election performances and declining opinion poll numbers.
The anti-migrant, eurosceptic League hovers around 25 per cent in surveys, after scoring more than 34 per cent in May 2019 European elections. It nevertheless remains Italy’s most popular party.
The Italian Senate agreed to lift Salvini’s immunity in February. If the Gregoretti case progresses, the 47-year-old politician risks up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Back in July 2019, the League leader threatened to keep the migrants on the Gregoretti indefinitely, despite deteriorating conditions on board, until other EU countries agreed to take in some of them.
Prosecutors say Salvini’s conduct amounted to an illegal detention of the people on board, while he has presented as it a legitimate way to force greater EU burden-sharing on migration.
The Gregoretti migrants were eventually allowed on Italian soil after other European Union nations, including Germany, agreed to take in some of them.
GNA