Actor Richard Gere will be heard as a
witness in the Open Arms trial against Deputy Premier and
Transport Minister Matteo Salvini on October 6, judicial sources
said on Friday.
Salvini is on trial in Palermo for alleged abduction and refusal
to perform official duties after preventing around 150 migrants
and refugees on board a rescue ship operated by Spanish NGO Open
Arms from disembarking as part of his closed-ports policy in
August 2019, when he was interior minister.
Gere will be asked to give evidence in relation to the condition
of the people on board the Open Arms.
The actor, who was on holiday in Italy at the time, rented a
boat and went out to the ship on August 9, 2019 to assess the
state of health of the rescued migrants and refugees and deliver
food and water.
The Open Arms spent almost three weeks at sea after Salvini, who
is leader of the right-wing League, refused to allow it to dock
on the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa when he was interior
minister in the first of two governments led by Giuseppe Conte,
now leader of the populist opposition party Five Star Movement
(M5S).
Salvini has said he acted to defend Italy's borders and in
accordance with a policy agreed with the rest of the government
of the day.
He has said that the trial is politically motivated.
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