An Italian Senate committee voted, on February 19, to block the investigation into accusations of kidnapping against Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, when he decided to hold 150 migrants on board a ship for five days on August 2018, according to Reuters.
Specifically, after the accusations of proceeding into an investigation against the Prime Minster, the committee voted 16 to 6 to halt the investigation.
Yet, prosecutors in Sicily are permitted to investigate Salvini for taking advantage of its power and kidnapping over the case of migrants held on board the Diciotti coast guard ship.
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Concerning the Diciotti case, Salvini allowed the disembark of migrants rescued at sea when Albania and Ireland announced they would accept some of them and Italy’s Catholic Church agreed to take responsibility for the rest at no cost to the taxpayer.
Opposing to the investigation, the 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio held an online ballot of the movement’s core supporters on February 18 and 59% voted to protect Salvini.
The movement’s senators on the Elections and Immunity Committee said they would honor that vote.
Due to the results of the voting, lawmakers from the Democratic Party protested in the courtyard outside the committee room, while holding signs that read ‘shame’.
Furthermore, Salvini stated that his decision to block the migrants’s entrance was for the Italians’ best interest.
The committee ruling precedes a full vote on the floor of the upper house, which is due to be held by the end of March.
Finally, a number of 5-Star lawmakers have expressed their interest in favour of the continue of legal probe, but the full senate is unlikely to reverse the committee decision because centre-right opposition parties have said they will vote in favor of Salvini’s immunity.
