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rehe port city of Catania, on the east coast of Sicily, was the political capital of Italy for the weekend. There it took place on Saturday morning: the first hearing in the process against former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for the complaint of deprivation of liberty and abuse of power in the “Gregoretti”.
Matthias Rüb
Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.
The Italian coast guard ship with around 130 migrants on board was not allowed to enter an Italian port from July 27-31, 2019 at the behest of then-Interior Minister Salvini, until several EU countries finally agreed. accept migrants. In the event of a guilty verdict, Salvini faces up to 15 years in prison, as well as a ban on holding a political electoral office after a conviction in the first instance.
La Lega, Salvini’s right-wing nationalist, had used the court date in Sicily for a kind of extraordinary party summit. All the main politicians of the party came to Catania for a three-day symposium entitled “Italians choose freedom”. The president of the post-fascist “Brothers of Italy” party, Giorgia Meloni, and the vice president of the liberal-conservative party “Forza Italia”, Antonio Tajani, had rushed to Sicily to support their ally. The prefect had planned a public breakfast for the three party leaders in Piazza Duomo at the last minute “for security reasons.” Breakfast took place indoors.
With the hashtag on the back
Posters were distributed with the inscription “Take me to justice too!” To local and foreign supporters of the Lega. Salvini himself assured in numerous public appearances before the hearing that he was going to the courtroom with his head held high, because he was not aware of any fault: “I acted in the name and in the interest of the Italian people.” He had never chosen as a hashtag motto surrender!
The image of a city under political siege was completed by opponents of Salvini, who in turn claimed public space for themselves with demonstrations. At the Catania airport they had already put up a large banner on Thursday with the inscription: “Lega people are not welcome!” The courthouse was cordoned off in a large area, all access roads were closed. Several hundred policemen were on guard to keep “enemy camps” separate. Aside from the continuous shouting matches and minor fights, he remained at peace.
The counter-protesters wait for Salvini in front of the court.
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Image: EPA
The hearing, chaired by the experienced judge Nunzio Sarpietro, 68, lasted only a few minutes. When the judge withdrew to read and appraise the documents presented by the prosecution and the defense, something of a violent incident occurred after all. A piece of marble cladding that weighed a good 50 kilograms came off a wall and struck Salvini’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno so badly on the ankle that she had to receive medical attention on the spot and then left the court in a wheelchair. .
Salvini saw the postponement as a success in itself
The lawyer, former Minister of Public Administrations and currently a senator for the Lega, now wants detailed information about a question time in parliament from Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede, who belongs to the left-wing populist five-star movement that supports the trial against his former partner of Salvini coalition. Maintain the general state of construction of the country’s courts. In any event, Judge Sarpietro soon decided that he needed more information to decide whether to open the main proceedings. So she postponed the hearing to November 20 and December 4. Then-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, then-Labor Minister and five-star party leader Luigi Di Maio, former Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli (five-star) and current independent Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese will testify.
Salvini judged the postponement and the extension of the hearing in a subsequent press conference as a complete success: he sees that this supports his argument that he did not decide on the five stars in the “Gregoretti” case alone, but with the express consent of his key cabinet colleagues. . But they have been ruling with the Social Democrats instead of the Lega since September 2019 and they don’t want to know anything about any responsibility for the blockade of the Salvini port for ships with migrants on board.
At the beginning of the hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office reiterated its call to close the process against Salvini. The only certainty for the moment is that Catania will once again be the political capital of Italy in late November and early December. Then, to a certain extent, with a full staff: with the participation of the entire staff of the country’s political leadership.
