Migrants who were not allowed to
disembark from a Coast Guard ship for several days after being
rescued in the Mediterranean in August have filed two legal
petitions against their treatment, not just one, a lawyer
representing them said on Friday.
Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who has
spearheaded the government's tough stance on migrants, refused
to let the asylum seekers off the ship during a standoff with
the EU.
Catania prosecutors wanted to press ahead with criminal
charges against Salvini in relation to this but this week the
Senate's immunity panel voted to deny permission for the case to
proceed.
"The aim of the petition is not to obtain damages, but to
ascertain whether conduct that did not comply with the law took
place," lawyer Alessandro Ferrara told a press conference.
"The damages could be a symbolic amount of one euro. The
important thing is that clarification is obtained on that
conduct".
Petitions to a Rome court and to the European Court of Human
Rights have been presented by 42 migrants who were on the
Diciotti.
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