The three Palermo prosecutors who
have requested a six-year prison term for former interior
minister and current Deputy Premier and Transport Minister
Matteo Salvini on charges of kidnapping and refusal to perform
official acts in the Open Arms case have received thousands of
messages of insults and threats via social media as well as
heavily intimidatory letters, prompting the State attorney
general of the Sicilian city, Lia Saba, to raise the alarm with
the provincial committee for public order and security, judicial
sources said Thursday.
The State attorneys Marzia Sabella, Gery Ferrara and Giorgia
Righi, who on September 14 requested the six-year prison term
for Salvini on abduction charges for having prevented, five
years ago, the disembarkation from the Spanish NGO rescue chip
Open Arms of 147 migrants in Lampedusa, did not comment.
The indictment in the trial against Salvini over his refusal, as
part of his closed ports policy, to let the migrants disembark
has sparked a political row and a virulent campaign on social
media with death threats and sexist insults against the female
prosecutors whose photos were included in a number of posts.
Members of the State attorneys' families have also received
threats and anonymous letters were sent to the State attorney's
office as part of episodes reported by the prosecutor general of
Palermo to the Committee for public order and security, the
prefecture's agency in charge of security measures.
The posts and threats were also sent to State attorneys in
Caltanissetta in charge of investigating cases involving
magistrates in Palermo.
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