Italian top court upholds Salvini's acquittal in migrant boat case

Italy's top court on Wednesday upheld the acquittal of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in a trial over his August 2019 decision to block a migrant rescue boat from docking in the country.

Salvini took to X to celebrate the ruling. "Five years of legal proceedings: defending borders is not a crime," he wrote.

The head of the right-wing League party, which is part of the governing coalition, was accused of preventing a ship operated by an aid organization with refugees on board from entering an Italian port for several weeks during his time as interior minister in 2019.

The public prosecutor had called for a six-year prison sentence for Salvini, describing his behaviour as kidnapping and a dereliction of duty. Instead, he was acquitted by a Sicilian court last year.

Prosecutors then lodged a complaint with the Court of Cassation in Rome, Italy's highest court, but judges there upheld the Sicilian ruling, news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday.

The ship, operated by the Spanish organization Open Arms, was anchored near the island of Lampedusa with more than 160 migrants on board, but was not allowed to enter the port.

Several people jumped into the water and tried to swim ashore. The ship was only allowed to dock after three weeks following an order by a public prosecutor - against the wishes of the minister.

Salvini, now transport minister, is a key member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition government, which has taken a hardline approach to migrants arriving in the country via the Mediterranean.