Fifty out of 177 refugees have disappeared from migrant reception centers following the docking of the Diciotti ship, according to La Repubblica daily,
Matteo Salvini has ironically remarked that he was right when holding the refugees back on the ship. However, he is now being persecuted for that decision.
“More than 50 migrants who disembarked from the Diciotti ship needed protection, food and accommodation so much so that they decided to leave (to receiving centers) and disappeared! So didn´t I keep them (on board) by right?,“ Salvini wrote on Facebook. “It is another proof that not everyone who is coming to Italy is nothing but skin and bones and is running away from war and hunger,“ he added.
“If only one of them committed a crime, who would be responsible for it? The end of uncontrolled migration and immediate maritime blockade,“ Giorgia Meloni who leads the political party Brothers of Italy wrote on Twitter.
The migrants, mostly from Eritrea, were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard during the night of August 16th. Salvini conditioned their disembarking in the Sicilian port of Catania by redistributing them among EU states. After a ten-day stalemate, Albania and Ireland agreed to receiving around twenty migrants and the Italian Catholic Church promised to take care of the rest.
Salvini is now being prosecuted for illegal detention of people, misuse of power, neglecting of the office exercise, restrain of personal freedom and pressure on the EU institutions to force the redistribution of immigrants. This case will be handled by a special court dealing with crimes committed by members of the government. Salvini is facing up to 30 years in prison according to the Italian Criminal Code.
