'Salvini is Europe's most courageous patriot' says Orban

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 16 - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday wrote on X that Italian Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini is "Europe's most courageous patriot" who was "punished for stopping immigration".
    "What is going on? Matteo Salvini is our hero", Orban wrote in the wake of a Palermo prosecutor's request for a six-year jail term for former interior minister Salvini for allegedly kidnapping 147 migrants who he stopped from landing at Lampedusa for several days as part of his controversial closed ports policy for rescue ships five years ago.
    Salvini responded to Orban's post on Monday: "thanks Viktor, see you on Friday in the splendid city of Budapest", on the sidelines of an EU informal meeting of transport ministers on September 20.
    "The trials and threats will not stop the wind of change and freedom blowing in Europe", the League leader also wrote on social media.
    Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also expressed support for Salvini in a post on Facebook, writing that "the campaign against politicians and governments fighting immigration has gained new momentum".
    He cited in particular what the FBI has described as an apparent assassination attempt against Republican presidential candidate Doland Trump on Sunday, the Palermo prosecutor's request on Saturday for six years' imprisonment for Salvini and a European Court of Justice 200-million-euro fine against Hungary for breaking the EU's asylum laws. (ANSA).