The Senate's immunity panel on
Tuesday voted against granting a request from criminal
prosecutors to proceed with charges against Deputy Premier and
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini over the Diciotti case.
Magistrates in the Sicilian city of Catania requested
authorization from parliament to proceed against the leader of
the anti-migrant League for alleged kidnapping over migrants
held on board the Diciotti coast guard ship in a standoff with
the EU last August.
Salvini said the case should not be allowed to proceed as he
was doing his job as minister.
On Monday members of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), the League's
coalition partners, voted for the group's lawmakers to vote
against lifting Salvini's parliamentary immunity.
It went the same way on the Senate panel on Tuesday, with 16
backing the line proposed by panel chair Maurizio Gasparri,
while six were against.
Some M5S supporters expressed unease about backing immunity
for Salvini, saying the movement has traditionally been against
MPs getting different treatment in such cases.
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