"I am proud to say that, when I was interior minister, no migrant tragedies occurred, unlike what happened afterwards," Italy's deputy prime minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Matteo Salvini said on January 12, during the Open Arms trial underway in the Sicilian city of Palermo.

In a post on X on January 12, formerly known as Twitter, Salvini said he continued to be "proud" of his decisions and went into the hearing with "head held high."

"Government policy [at the time] was to counter human trafficking and get Europe involved," added Salvini, who is also head of Italy's far-right League (Lega) party. He stands accused of "kidnapping and neglect of duty" for having refused --when he was interior minister-- the disembarkation on the island of Lampedusa of 147 migrants rescued at sea in August 2019 by the Spanish NGO Open Arms vessel.

Salvini claims his actions 'protected national security'

"I protected national security," stated Salvini during the hearing. He explained that he did so because "at least three criminal incidents in France, Germany, and Belgium are attributable to people who had previously disembarked on Lampedusa."

"Contrary to what some claim, there were risks of terrorism then. So special attention to irregular immigration was a just objective," he added. During the trial, he criticized former prime minister Giuseppe Conte's actions, and noted a disagreement over this particular incident.

"Conte shared all the migration policy choices except the one related to Open Arms. This is easily explained by looking at the fact that between August 8 and August 9 a government crisis had arisen with a vote of confidence due for the prime minister," Salvini said.

"In all the hundreds of previous incidents we spoke on the phone about various issues," Salvini said. "Whereas with Open Arms, Conte instead began to engage in written correspondence. On August 14, for the first time, he wrote referencing minors onboard and asking me to make decisions as a result. We answered on Ferragosto (August 15, a public holiday in Italy) while we were coordinating parties for an anti-Camorra pact."

A 'political' issue

Salvini said that "on August 16, the prime minister wrote again, challenging my choices. On August 17 we responded." The former interior minister added that, "in the eyes of the Five Star Movement, what I did with the Diciotti vessel was fine, but what I did with Open Arms was not. The truth, however, is that the issue was political."

Although Salvini says that his actions were taken on the basis of national security, during the trial, the former interior minister admitted that he did not suspect that anyone on board was actually planning terrorist actitivities. He said though part of his decision to block the disembarkation was motivated by having been informed that there were "suspicions linked to clandestine migration since the ship captain, Marc Creus, had a request for indictment pending."

"When did you find out that Creus was under investigation for aiding and abetting clandestine migration," deputy prosecutor Marzia Sabella asked Salvini. "I imagine cabinet chief Piantedosi told me before the request for entrance into international waters," the League leader said, later adding that the captain being under investigation was not an impediment to the authorization of a safe port for Open Arms.

Open Arms founder: 'I expect justice to be done'

The investigation against Creus was later dropped. The deputy prosecutor went on to ask Salvini why the passage of the ship with migrants onboard in national waters was considered harmful.

"The ship had not coordinated with the Italian authorities and had picked up migrants in international waters. In these cases the rule was to consider the passage harmful and that there were not the necessary conditions for a safe port to be granted," he answered.

Before the hearing, Open Arms founder Oscar Camps, said that: "I expect justice to be done and that Matteo Salvini answer for the consequences of his actions, since they were personal."

On January 11, in a tweet on X, Camps asked what kind of national security Salvini was defending? He asked whether it should be considered "dignified for a minister of a democratic republic to oblige 160 vulnerable people, including women and children to wait 19 days at sea before allowing them to disembark in a safe port. He answered his own question saying "I think not, we will see you in court!"