There are "elements to posit"
kidnapping charges in the case of the SeaWatch 3 migrant rescue
ship which had to wait 12 days off Siracusa before getting the
OK to land at Catania on January 31, Rome prosecutors said
Wednesday.
The prosecutors sent their case file, at the moment against
person or persons unknown, to Siracusa colleagues who will now
weigh whether to hand the case to the Catania ministers
tribunal.
Siracusa prosecutor Fabio Scavone told ANSA the file would be
sent to Catania on Thursday.
He said the Siracusa prosecutors had not investigated the
case because it was not their competence.
The Senate recently voted not to let kidnapping charges
proceed against Interior Minister Matteo Salvini in another
migrant rescue standoff with the EU last August.
In that case, Salvini kept 177 migrants on board coast guard
ship Diciotti for two weeks until Albania, Ireland and the
Italian Church agreed to take them in.
Salvini said on the SeaWatch case Wednesday: "is there
another trial against baddy Salvini on the way?
"We'll find out together only if we live long enough. I'm
certainly not changing my mind, you can only arrive in Iatly
with a permit. They can denounce as much as they want, Italian
ports will stay shut".
Salvini last year closed Italian ports to NGO migrant rescue
ships.
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