“Political trial, if convicted I will remain in office” –

“I will remain in office whatever the sentence, which I hope will be acquittal.” In view of the ruling in the trial on the Open Arms affair, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini does not intend to give in to opposition pressure because “I believe it is a political trial”, he reiterated. “If that wasn’t the case, if it were a conviction in the first instance,” he continued, the next day “I would be in the office working a little more pissed off but I would be in the office.”

As mentioned, the proceedings for kidnapping and other crimes for having delayed the disembarkation of the NGO ship when he was head of the Interior Ministry are considered by Salvini to be a dangerous precedent. «A possible conviction would not be a problem for me or worrying for me, it would be a huge problem for Italy, for the rule of law, for the fight against illegal immigration, at an international level it would be a dangerous precedent. I am convinced that justice will be pronounced in a sensible and serene manner, I will remain in office regardless of the sentence which I hope will be acquitted”, said the deputy prime minister in a meeting with the Foreign Press Association.

«I believe that it is a political process, instructed by the political parties of the left – continued the leader of the League – and I count on an independent judge arriving at consequences that appear obvious to me. If this were not the case in the first instance, fortunately in Italy there are two other levels of judgement.”