ITALY: Deputy PM probed for refusing entry to refugees

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is under investigation by a Sicilian prosecutor for refusing to allow more than 150 migrants and refugees to enter Italy. Salvini, who is also Italy’s interior minister, is being investigated for abuse of office, kidnapping and illegal arrest, after forcing refugees to stay on a ship at the Sicilian […]

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is under investigation by a Sicilian prosecutor for refusing to allow more than 150 migrants and refugees to enter Italy.

Salvini, who is also Italy’s interior minister, is being investigated for abuse of office, kidnapping and illegal arrest, after forcing refugees to stay on a ship at the Sicilian port of Catania for almost a week.

Salvini blocked them from disembarking the Diciotti in the absence of an agreement from other European member states to share the responsibility of relocation.

Following the news of the investigation, Italian authorities allowed people to get off the ship, hours after Saturday’s decision to let 16 people off who were unwell.

The Diciotti vessel docked at the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday night after rescuing 190 people from dinghies in distress off the Maltese coast in the Mediterranean.