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The Italian Supreme Court today definitively confirmed the innocence of the Italian Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, in the criminal process known as “Open Arms”, definitively rejecting the appeal filed by the Palermo Prosecutor’s Office. The decision of the Court of Cassation thus seals the final closure of one of the most sensitive political and judicial cases in Italy in recent years, which centered on immigration policies.
Salvini, who at the time of the events was Minister of the Interior (August 2019), was accused of unlawful deprivation of liberty and refusal to perform official duty, after refusing to disembark 147 migrants rescued at sea by the Spanish non-governmental organization Open Arms.
In December 2024, the Palermo Court declared Salvini innocent “because the fact is missing”, arguing that there was not enough evidence to prove the charges. The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office immediately appealed the decision, following the so-called “per saltum” procedure, that is, appealing directly to the Cassation without going through an appeal.
Today, the Court of Cassation has dismissed this appeal, upholding the previous decision and thus making the former minister's innocence final.
Salvini's defense lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, called the appeal unjustified and based on incorrect interpretations of the circumstances. "The prosecution has filed a general appeal, which requests a completely different process from the one that took place, without any solid legal basis," she declared.
She also stressed that the Open Arms case cannot be compared to the Diciotti case, as the former involved a Spanish NGO ship, while the latter involved an Italian Coast Guard ship. “Official reports show that there was no form of unlawful deprivation of liberty,” the lawyer added.
Today's decision is seen as a political victory for Salvini, who has for years been one of the most vocal figures in Italy against illegal migration and has made it part of his policy to ban the landings of NGOs that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.
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