Overview
- The Court of Cassation upheld a 2024 Palermo tribunal acquittal, closing the case with no further appeals possible.
- The charges stemmed from Salvini’s 2019 order keeping the Open Arms rescue ship offshore for 19 days with 147 migrants before magistrates seized the vessel and allowed disembarkation.
- Prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence, alleging breaches of maritime, human-rights and constitutional obligations.
- The judges found the conduct did not meet the thresholds for kidnapping or arbitrary detention and accepted it as an exercise of ministerial discretion.
- Salvini and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the decision, while Open Arms founder Oscar Camps denounced it as a political outcome.