Diciotti – Senate to vote whether Salvini’s immunity is lifted
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The Italian government is putting on a brave face ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote that could see Matteo Salvini forced to stand trial.
The Senate will on Tuesday decide whether or not to lift the League leader and interior minister’s parliamentary immunity, allowing prosecutors to investigate him over his decision in August to hold 177 migrants for 10 days on board an Italian coast guard vessel. He could end up facing trial charged with abuse of power and the kidnapping of migrants, including children, on the Diciotti vessel, which was stranded at sea for days after Salvini declared all Italian ports closed.
A day before the vote came a litmus test in the Salvini case — an online vote by members of the 5Star Movement, the League’s coalition partner. Just under 60 percent of the more than 50,000 activists who voted said Salvini should not have his immunity lifted.
“The government goes on,” said 5Star leader Luigi Di Maio, but the vote was followed by a meeting of senior officials from his party to “discuss the future of the 5Stars movement,” Di Maio said on his way into the meeting.
The 5Stars’ decision to let its members have their say — in a non-biding but highly symbolic vote — attracted widespread criticism.
