Italy’s populist Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has been fully acquitted after being charged by prosecutors for “kidnapping” migrants while protecting his country’s borders from illegal aliens. A court in Palermo, Sicily, ruled in favor of Salvini, leader of the anti-mass migration League (Lega) party after prosecutors accused him of “kidnapping” illegal immigrants trying to reach Italy by ship by refusing to allow them to disembark.

The incident took place in 2019 when Salvini served as Interior Minister in a previous government. It involved Open Arms, a migrant “rescue” non-governmental organization (NGO), which had picked up 147 illegals at sea and tried to drop them off on the Italian island of Lampedusa rather than North Africa.

Salvini’s trial lasted for three years and saw 45 witnesses heard at 24 separate hearings, with prosecutors demanding Salvini face six years in prison. Prosecutors had tried to argue that the protection of human life at sea trumped defending Italy’s borders.

The defense, meanwhile, noted that Open Arms knew it was banned from Italian territorial waters and refused a Spanish offer of a safe port.

“Acquitted for stopping mass immigration and defending my country. The League wins, common sense wins, Italy wins,” Salvini stated following the verdict.

During his tenure as Interior Minister, Salvini managed to slash illegal immigration to Italy considerably. The ‘Salvini Method’ not only led to fewer migrant arrivals but also led to fewer drowning deaths in the Mediterranean Sea, as fewer attempted to make the journey in the first place.

Italy’s current prime minister, Giorgia Meloni of the populist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, has also sought to work with the European Union and other countries to reduce illegal arrivals, but with less success.

Image by European Union – European Parliament.

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