(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 18 - The League party is ready to mobilize
if its leader, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo
Salvini, will be convicted with a sentence expected on Friday in
an ongoing trial in Palermo.
Prosecutors in the Sicilian city have requested a six-year jail
term for him on charges of abduction and refusal to perform
public acts for not allowing the disembarkation of 147 migrants
rescued by the Open Arms vessel for 19 days when he was interior
minister five years ago.
Noting that Salvini could be found guilty of "defending the
borders of our country from the invasion of illegal immigrants",
the deputy leader of the League, Andrea Crippa, told
Affaritaliani.it that "a potential conviction would be a very
grave fact, a conviction for the entire Italian population,
Parliament and thus the cabinet elected by citizens.
"The whole party stands with its leader and is ready to mobilize
in the event of a conviction", concluded Crippa. (ANSA).