Before a vote Wednesday by the Senate on whether he should face prosecution in the case of 177 people stranded off Sicily on a rescue ship for ten days in August, Italy's hardline interior minister and deputy premier Matteo Salvini defended his refusal to allow migrants ashore.
Referring to the migrants who were detained on the Umberto Diciotti coastguard vessel until other states agreed to take them in, Salvini described the closure of Italy's ports to migrants as "an exceptionally successful policy".
Migrant landings in Italy had plunged "as is plain to see" since the closure of its ports to rescued boat migrants in early June when the populist government took office, Salvini told the Senate.
The 321-member Senate was due later Wednesday to vote on whether to accept a request from a special tribunal in Catania for Salvini to face trial for kidnapping and other crimes in the so-called 'Diciotti' case.
Members of the Senate's parliamentary immunity committee in February rejected Catania Court of Ministers' request by backing a resolution by panel chairman Maurizio Gasparri shielding Salvini from trial.
Committee members approved Gasparri's resolution by 16 votes in favour and four against. Salvini's ruling League party, its conservative coalition partners and the grassroots 5 Star Movement - the League's partner in the coalition government - voted for the resolution, while those from the centre-left Democratic Party opposed it.
