FILE PHOTO: Italy's Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini attends the upper house of parliament ahead of a confidence vote for the new government, in Rome, Italy, October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister, faces a possible six-year prison term if a court finds him guilty on Friday of kidnapping a boat full of migrants who were held offshore Italy for almost three weeks in 2019.
Salvini was interior minister at the time and has always denied the charges, arguing that he was defending national interests by trying to prevent a Spanish charity rescue ship from bringing 147 asylum seekers to Italy.
Prosecutors in Sicily say he is guilty of illegally detaining the migrants and of dereliction of duty for closing the ports to them. Salvini, the head of the far-right League party, portrays himself as a victim of judicial persecution.
"I am confident because I want to believe that Italy is a normal country, and in a normal country, those who defend the borders are not condemned. Otherwise, it would be ... a cause of celebration for human traffickers and the enemies of Italy," he told Il Giornale newspaper on Tuesday.
Legal analysts say the verdict could mark a shift in the balance between human rights protection and border security, which will likely have an impact on government policy-making.
"A conviction would be a point in favour of those who say that rights must be prioritised and they must not retreat in the face of border protection," said Ennio Codini, a legislation expert at Ismu Foundation, a migration think-tank.
If he is convicted, Salvini will have a right to two appeals before a final ruling that could bar him from holding office. He has already said he will not stand down if found guilty on Friday and has the support of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The appeals process could take years.
RESTRICTIVE POLICIES
Since taking office in 2023, Meloni has made it increasingly hard for migrant rescue boats to operate in the Mediterranean, but is locked in battle with the courts over the legality of a plan to process asylum requests in Albania rather than Italy.
"Every (court) decision, be it about Albania or Salvini, strikes a balance between the protection of human rights and other needs, such as border security," Codini told Reuters.
Salvini has received solidarity from anti-immigrant parties across Europe and an eventual conviction could give him a political boost after a long period of decline in the polls, which has weakened his standing within the League.
But if he is acquitted, the government may be tempted to further tighten its stance against migrant arrivals and once again shut its ports to the few charity ships that still assist would-be asylum seekers trying to cross the Mediterranean.
"They might reconsider what can and cannot be done in terms of restrictive policies. (An acquittal) would reopen a space for tougher measures," said Emanuele Massetti, a political science professor at Trento University.
Well over one million migrants have reached Italy by boat over the past 12 years. Their arrival has boosted support for far-right parties that have put the fight against mass migration from Africa and the Middle East at the top of the political agenda.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Ros Russell)
