Salvini trial judges start deliberations (3)

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 20 - The three judges in Palermo set to rule in the trial in which Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini faces charges of abduction and refusal to perform public acts have started deliberations.
    A verdict is expected later on Friday after 6 pm, judicial sources said.
    The League leader is accused of illegitimately denying the disembarkation of 147 migrants rescued by the vessel operated by Spanish NGO Open Arms in August 2019, as part of his controversial closed-port policy when he was interior minister.
    Prosecutors Marzia Sabella, Gery Ferrara and Giorgia Righi on September 14 requested a six-year jail term for Salvini.
    On Friday, Sabella told the court that Salvini had exceeded his powers when he had stopped the migrants from landing at Lampedusa on August 14-20, 2019, in spite of difficult conditions aboard.
    The State attorney said "no national security reasons" prevented their disembarkation.
    Civil plaintiffs in the case include, among others, NGOs and activists Legambiente, Arci, AccoglieRete, Democratic Jurists, Ciss, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Cittadinanza Attiva, Oscar Camps, director of the NGO Open Arms, the vessel's skipper Reig Creus, mission chief Anna Isabel Montes, the municipality of Barcelona, medical charity Emergency and the Association of juridical studies on immigration ASGI.
    The legal representatives of civil plaintiffs have requested the payment of one million euros in compensation.
    The trial began on September 15 2021 and included 24 hearings during which 45 witnesses were heard.
    The leader of the League party is represented by attorney Giulia Bongiorno who has requested her client's acquittal. (ANSA).