The Italian government has slammed the ruling of Rome's special immigration unit tribunal on Friday (October 18), which found that the remaining 12 migrants that Italy sailed to Albania on Wednesday (October 16) actually could not be detained in the new centers and had a right to return to Italy to have their cases heard.

The tribunal ruled that the migrants could not be held in Albania because even though the Italian government had deemed their countries of origin -- Egypt and Bangladesh -- "safe", the two countries could not actually be considered safe.

This means that all 16 migrants who arrived in Albania from Lampedusa this week are expected to return to Italy. They had been the first people rescued at sea by Italy who were brought to Albania under a deal to house some asylum seekers in the non-EU country.

Four migrants have already been allowed to return to Italy from Albania, after screenings revealed two may be minors, and two had health problems, disqualifying them from being detained in Albania. Under the terms of the deal, only adult males with no vulnerabilities can be detained in Albania.

Read AlsoWhat is the Italy-Albania deal on migration?

Political reactions

The Italian government called the ruling "politicized", saying that it would help the left-wing opposition in the country.

Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party slammed "the judicial Left", claiming leftwing magistrates were "helping" the parliamentary Left which has criticized the two new centers in Albania. 

The center left, along with rights groups, has said the new centers are needlessly expensive, calculating that the estimated costs of building and maintaining the centers could amount to as much as one billion euros. Critics of the Italian government's policy have labeled the Albania scheme a "new Guantanamo." They have also pointed out that the numbers the center might be able to process each year, just a few thousand, is far fewer than the numbers of migrants actually arriving in Italy annually.

According to Italian government figures, more than 55,000 migrants arrived on Italy's shores since the beginning of the year. The centers might only be able to process about 3,000 people annually, point out critics.

Nevertheless, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the scheme, calling it a model other countries can follow. Meloni said at an EU summit on Thursday (October 17) that she had received many requests for information on the scheme and that "all of Europe is talking about the Italy-Albania model". She added on X that "defending Europe's borders and preventing human trafficking was a priority for both Italy and Europe."

Read AlsoA look inside the new Italian reception centers in Albania

'Unacceptable'

One Italian parliamentarian from the center-left Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Orfini, commented on the court ruling that while Meloni's party's deputies might be saying the judgement was "absurd," the only thing that he found "absurd was having a government that is trying to flout laws and human rights."

The FdI responded, also on X, saying they believed the "judicial left [magistrates and judges are often accused of having a left-wing bias in Italy by right-wing governments] are coming to the aid of the parliamentary left."

The post continued, saying that, "Some politicized magistrates have decided that there are no safe countries of origin: it is impossible to detain those who enter illegally, it is forbidden to repatriate illegal immigrants. They would like to abolish Italy's borders, we will not allow it." 

The FdI's main partner in government, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's rightwing League party (Lega), also slammed the ruling as "unacceptable."

"On the day of a hearing of the Open Arms trial against Matteo Salvini, the decision not validating the detention of immigrants in Albania is particularly unacceptable and grave," said the League in a note.

Read AlsoRow erupts on Salvini migrant 'kidnap' jail request

Salvini enjoys solidarity in the Open Arms case

Supporters of the League party staged a protest on Friday in downtown Palermo to express their solidarity with their leader after local prosecutors requested a six-year jail term for him on charges of abduction and refusal to perform public acts for refusing the disembarkation of 147 migrants rescued by the Spanish NGO Open Arms vessel for 19 days when he was interior minister five years ago.

Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban also expressed support for Salvini saying he "deserves a medal". 

"We are with you, my friend! Matteo Salvini deserves a medal for having defended Europe," Orban wrote on X, ahead of the Palermo hearing.

Palermo prosecutor Giorgia Righi, who received several threats and insults on social media after requesting the six-year jail term for Salvini, has been assigned a security detail, judicial sources said on Friday. Righi, one the State attorneys on the case and a magistrate at the DDA anti-mafia investigative division, was the only team member left who had not yet been offered protection.

Giuseppe Santalucia, the head of the National Association of Magistrates (ANM), the judiciary's union, said that media tension and suspicions whipped up over a trial can produce verbal violence and threats. 

"If a climate of media tension is created around a trial, the effects can be these," said Santalucia. 

"Trials must take place in a climate that is as serene as possible for everyone's benefit", he told ANSA. 

"Operations that create an aura of suspicion around a trial can have this type of impact: attacks on people, therefore magistrates, with verbal violence and threats", Santalucia said, urging everyone involved to have "wisdom" because "controversies are only damaging and prejudicial."

Read AlsoItalian politician Salvini enters Open Arms trial with 'head held high'

Italian opposition seeks a European inquiry into Albania scheme

Returning to the Albania scheme, Meloni said on Friday that an inquiry had been sent to the European Commission from opposition MEPs including members of the Democratic Party (PD), Five-Star Movement (M5S) and Green and Left Alliance (AVS) "asking whether it intends to open an infringement procedure against Italy" over the agreement with Albania.

"You have understood well: some Italian parties have actually urged Europe to sanction their own nation and their citizens with the only objective of politically striking this government", the premier wrote on social media. 

"A shame that cannot pass without comment", she added.