Posted on 12/16/2020 5:58:13 PM PST by marshmallow
ROME – Former Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, a populist and known opponent of Pope Francis and the Italian bishops on the issue of immigration, is going on trial for kidnapping related to his refusal to allow migrants to disembark a ship in 2019.
In February this year, the Senate Chamber of the Sicilian city of Catania authorized the trial against Salvini on charges of aggravated kidnapping for preventing 116 migrants rescued at sea last August to come ashore, leaving them stranded for five days on a crowded ship in the sweltering summer heat with insufficient supplies.
The ship carrying the rescued the migrants, called the Gregoretti, had arrived to the port of Catania July 27, 2019 – a day after Salvini declared that he would not allow any ship carrying migrants to disembark until other European countries volunteered to take them.
Awaiting instructions, the Gregoretti, carrying 132 people, including a woman 8 months pregnant with two other small children, eventually moved onto the NATO Augusta port further down the coast, where on July 29 16 migrants said to be minors were allowed to go ashore.
Two days later, on July 31, Salvini finally announced on Facebook that five other European countries and structures in the Italian Catholic Church had agreed to take on the migrants, meaning they would be allowed to disembark immediately.
In a statement at the time, the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI), announced they would take in around 50 of the migrants, who would be welcomed at the “Mondo Migliore” center near Castel Gandolfo, home to the former papal summer residence and which is roughly a 40min drive from Rome.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
A charge of kidnapping? C’mon signor.
It’s idiotic. Kidnapping is when you take someone not when you don’t take someone. Welcome 1984.
Wow they have a totally different definition of kidnapping in Italy than the one I am used to.
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