Overview

• The Palermo tribunal released over 270 pages of motivations concluding that Italy was not legally bound to assign a place of safety to the Open Arms ship after its August 2019 rescue.
• Judges ruled Salvini’s decree barring the vessel from Italian waters was illegitimate and based on mere conjecture but did not impose a legal duty on the state.
• The court found that responsibility for assigning a safe port lay with Spain as the ship’s flag state and noted the vessel could have docked in Spain or Malta.
• Former interior minister Matteo Salvini was acquitted of kidnapping and abuse of power charges because no international obligation existed for Italy to accommodate the rescued migrants.
• Palermo prosecutors are consulting with chief prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia as they deliberate whether to appeal the acquittal.