Italy’s ex-interior minister on trial for blocking migrant boat, with actor Richard Gere as a witness

Matteo Salvini, a erstwhile interior curate and the caput of Italy’s right-wing League party, is connected proceedings connected kidnapping charges related to his denial of introduction to a humanitarian vessel carrying migrants and asylum seekers abandoned astatine oversea successful 2019.

And helium is aggravated that Hollywood histrion Richard Gere is lasting arsenic a witnesser against him.

Salvini was successful tribunal Saturday successful the Sicilian capital, Palermo, for a proceeding to o.k. the database of witnesses for his trial.

Among those acceptable to attest against him are elder Italian politicians, including erstwhile premier curate Giuseppe Conte, and volunteers with the Spanish enactment Proactiva Open Arms, who managed the search-and-rescue vessel successful question.

Gere was successful Italy arsenic a unpaid with Open Arms during the 2019 incident. He is expected to attest astir the unsafe conditions aboard the ship.

Salvini, a populist known for his nationalist and anti-immigration politics, could look up to 15 years successful situation if recovered blameworthy and could beryllium barred from holding authorities office. The proceedings is expected to agelong implicit months.

Refugee and migration activists are hoping that a ruling against Salvini volition acceptable a ineligible precedent that volition deter governments from disrupting specified search-and-rescue missions.

“Violating a cardinal close specified arsenic the extortion of quality beings astatine oversea for the involvement of governmental propaganda is shameful,” Open Arms laminitis Òscar Camps antecedently told Reuters. He called the proceedings “an accidental to justice a play of European history.”

Salvini is accused of maltreatment of power, dereliction of work and kidnapping 147 migrants and asylum seekers implicit his refusal to fto therescue vessel dock successful Italy. The vessel remained astatine oversea disconnected the Italian land of Lampedusa for 18 days successful sweltering vigor arsenic conditions aboard rapidly deteriorated.

In desperation, astir 15 passengers threw themselves overboard successful an effort to scope Italy arsenic the ship’s skipper issued urgent pleas for a harmless spot to land, France 24 reported.

As the days wore on, minors and radical requiring aesculapian attraction were permitted to disembark.

An Italian justice yet overruled Salvini, who was interior curate astatine the time, and allowed the remaining 83 passengers to disembark astatine Lampedusa.

Salvini had banned the docking of ships tally by nongovernmental organizations similar Open Arms successful an effort to chopped disconnected migration from Africa and the Middle East.

But refugees and asylum seekers inactive kept making the unsafe travel from Libya to Europe connected dingy, overcrowded boats — and humanitarian ships kept rescuing those stranded astatine sea.

Salvini has rejected the charges against him arsenic an onslaught by his governmental opponents.

“Defending a country’s borders, security, grant and dignity is not conscionable a minister’s work but everyone’s duty,” helium said, according to Reuters. “Being enactment connected proceedings for conscionable doing my work is surreal.”

Among his complaints is that Gere has been approved to attest against him.

“Now you archer maine however superior is simply a proceedings wherever Richard Gere comes from Hollywood to attest connected however atrocious I am,” Salvini said, according to Reuters.

It remains unclear whether Gere volition attest successful person.

More than 1 cardinal refugees tried to participate Europe successful 2015 during the tallness of the migration crisis. The travel of radical has importantly declined since Turkey and the European Union signed a 2016 pact to bounds migration, among different measures to restrict entry.