Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was acquitted of kidnapping and dereliction of duty charges on Friday in connection with a decision to prevent a migrant rescue boat from docking.

A court in Sicily cleared Salvini of any wrongdoing late Friday evening.

Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League party and a key figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition, was Italy's interior minister when he refused to allow migrants to disembark from the Open Arms charity ship in August 2019.

The vessel's crew rescued around 160 people attempting to reach the European Union by crossing the Mediterranean and was forced to remain at sea for three weeks before it was finally allowed to dock on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

In that time, conditions on board the Open Arms deteriorated to the extent that several people jumped into the water in desperation and tried to swim to shore.

Salvini defiant

Proceedings against Salvini were launched at a court in Palermo, Sicily, three years ago, with prosecutors calling for a six-year prison sentence.

"The supreme duty of those who belong to governments is to defend international laws and conventions, and people's rights,'' said Arturo Salerni, the lawyer representing Open Arms as an injured party in the trial. "It cannot be that the interior minister... can deprive anyone of their freedom."

Salvini, on the other hand, complained that he was being attacked by "communist" judges pushing a left-wing agenda.

Currently serving as Italy's transport minister, Salvini told supporters last week that "defending the borders, the dignity, the laws, the honor of a country cannot ever be a crime" and vowed to enter the court in Palermo with his "head held high."

Arriving at court on Friday, Salvini showed defiance rather than remorse.

"I have fought mass immigration and whatever the verdict, for me today is a beautiful day because I am proud to have defended my country," he told reporters.

Salvini has also received backing from right-wing, anti-migrant lawmakers in Italy, Europe and even further afield.

"Salvini has the solidarity of the entire government,'' Italian Prime Minister Meloni told the Italian Senate on Wednesday, while anti-migrant members of the European Parliament recently wore t-shirts at a sitting in Brussels bearing Salvini's face and the words: "Guilty for having defended Italy."

The words echoed those chosen by US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who on Thursday posted on his platform X, it is "crazy that Salvini is being tried for defending Italy."

js,mf/kb, lo (AP, AFP)