Today (March 7), the Supreme Court in Rome ruled that the Italian state must pay compensation to a group of Mediterranean migrants, mainly from Eritrea, who were held aboard the coast guard vessel Diciotti for about ten days in 2018.

The Italian coast guard rescued 190 migrants off Lampedusa in August 2018, 13 passengers were taken to the island for serious medical reasons, but the remaining 177 were kept onboard for 10 days under then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s orders.

Salvini prohibited the migrants from disembarking at the port of Catania in Sicily for several days, and they were only allowed to leave the Diciotti after Albania and Ireland agreed to take in some of them. The Catholic Church in Italy also offered assistance.

Senior reporter at Rainews24 Angela Caponnetto shared a post on X with a section of the decision, which states that the incident was a violation the law and "doesn't respect human dignity."

The case which is commonly referred to as "Diciotti," after the name of the coast guard vessel on which the migrants were held, was brought by an Eritrean migrant who had been onboard the vessel.

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Italian government reacts to decision

Italy’s right-wing governing coaltion, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, reacted angrily to the decision. Meloni complained that the government would now have to compensate people who "tried to enter Italy illegally (…) with the money of honest Italian citizens who pay taxes." She called the Supreme Court’s ruling "frustrating."

Salvini, now Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, described the decision as a "disgrace" stating on the X platform: "Let the judges pay and take in the illegal migrants themselves if they care so much." As Interior Minister (2018-2019), he gained notoriety for his "closed ports" policy, which sought to block migrant rescue ships from docking in Italy.

Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Friday (March 7) that he disagreed with the court's decision and the "legal grounds" on which it was based.

Tajani, who is also the leader of the center-right Forza Italia party, attempted to shift blame for the decision onto the migrants arguing that the "government's duty [is] to defend national borders, but if all irregular migrants were to demand compensation the state would default."

However one of the judges Margherita Cassano, the first president of the Court, responded to the controversy surrounding the ruling, stating: "The decisions of the Court of Cassation, like those of other judges, can be criticized. However, insults that call into question the division of powers on which the rule of law is based are unacceptable."

With dpa