Interior Minister Matteo Salvini
is under investigation for kidnapping migrants, Salvini himself
said Monday.
He said he is being probed for allegedly abducting migrants
allegedly held on a ship stopped from landing in Siracusa from
January 24 to 30 this year.
Salvini said the prosecutor in the case, Carmelo Zuccaro, had
filed to dismiss the case at the same time as he had submitted
the charges.
Earlier this year the Senate voted not to lift Salvini's
parliamentary immunity to face charges in another alleged
migrant kidnapping case.
Salvini took the opportunity Monday to respond to fellow
Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio who on Sunday said Italy's blockade
of ports to NGO migrant rescue ships was "only temporary",
sources said.
Salvini said "I take the opportunity to reply to the
minister: for me the ports will remain closed", reiterating his
long-held stance.
He said "I respect the work of the colleague Di Maio who is
dealing with jobs, but on the issues of the control of borders
and organised crime it's me who decides.
"If minister Di Maio or (Defence Minister Elisabetta) Trenta
think differently they should say so in cabinet and we'll have a
frank discussion.
"With me the ports will remain unavailably closed and sealed
to the traffickers in human beings".
At the weekend Di Maio and Trenta both warned of the prospect
of a surge in migrants leaving Libya because of the conflict
there.
Trenta said that "with the war in Libya, migrants become
refugees".
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