190 refugees

Trapped on the ship for days: Italy must pay

The 190 migrants had to remain on the ship for days before they were finally allowed to leave. The then Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini prevented the people from going ashore in August 2018. Now Italy must compensate them.

From August 16 to 25, 2018, the refugees were not allowed to leave the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti. The Dicotti had previously rescued the people at sea. Salvini banned the ship from entering a Sicilian port.

The migrants on the Diciotti were only allowed to go ashore after the Catholic Church in Italy, Albania and Ireland each agreed to take in some of the refugees.

Government must compensate refugees
As a result, a court opened an investigation against Salvini for deprivation of liberty. On Friday, Italy's Supreme Court ruled that the Italian government must compensate the refugees. A court must now precisely quantify the damage to the migrants, as reported by Italian media.

In March 2019, the Senate in Rome rejected a request for a trial against Salvini over the ship that had been blocked the previous year. Salvini was still Minister of the Interior at the time. Salvini later had to stand trial for deprivation of liberty and abuse of office in connection with the migrants who were detained for three weeks on board the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms. As Minister of the Interior, Salvini had caused a stir with his "closed port policy" for migrant rescue ships.