I would do it all again, no to plea bargaining –

“I am not afraid of being convicted, I am proud of what I have done”. The leader of the League and Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini, expressed himself in this way in Milan at the stand collecting signatures in solidarity against the Open Arms trial in Palermo. “Defending the borders is not a crime. I am with Salvini”, reads the placard. “I do not ask for a medal but not even prison. I do not plea bargain, I do not change anything. If I were to return as Minister of the Interior, I would do everything I have done again”, underlined the deputy prime minister, explaining that for him “it would be an incredible signal a conviction for a minister who kept his word and blocked the landings of illegal immigrants and saved lives, avoided crimes. In the event of a conviction, we would be the only country where defending the borders would be recognized as a crime”.

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After that Salvini says he is “happy with the solidarity that in a thousand squares, between this and next weekend, there will be with so many people also from the left and not only from the League who say ‘go ahead and hold on. Not only six years in prison, to add insult to injury with 1 million in compensation for damages to the poor troubled illegal immigrants. I hope to find a judge who will do justice with a capital J”.

To those who asked him if the threats on social media to the prosecutors do not risk creating a climate of tension between the powers of the State, he responded as follows: “Everyone does their job, every insult is an offense to intelligence. The prosecutors do their job and believe that I am a dangerous kidnapper and that I should end up in prison for having defended the borders and legality. A curious request, there are people who were in prison for occupying other people’s houses and were freed and there is a minister who did his job and should end up in prison even paying damages”.