Richard Gere to testify against former Italian minister Matteo Salvini | He will do so in support of the trial of the humanitarian NGO Open Arms, to which the former far-right official prevented nearly 150 migrants from disembarking.

Italian sovereignist Matteo Salvini has said that American actor Richard Gere will testify against him in the trial he will face after being accused of illegally blocking migrants at sea in 2019 when he was Minister of the Interior.

“Richard Gere will testify against me at the Open Arms trial on October 23 in Palermo”, in Sicily, he revealed during a political rally, according to statements collected by the Italian agency Ansa.

“I know him as an actor, but I do not understand what kind of lessons he wants to give me,” added the boss of the League, on the far right.

“If someone wants to turn the trial into a show and wants to see Richard Gere, go to the movies, not to court,” he joked, promising to ask the actor “for an autograph for my mother.”

Salvini is accused of kidnapping and abuse of power for having prohibited the disembarkation of 147 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the Spanish NGO Open Arms in August 2019.

For six days, Salvini refused to grant permission to dock in a safe port for the NGO ship, which anchored off the small Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, while the conditions of those on board deteriorated.

Salvini maintains that he acted for the good of Italy and to deter migrants from embarking on African coasts for a dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean.

Richard Gere had boarded the Open Arms ship in August 2019 to support the migrants, whom Salvini later mocked.

The trial began on September 15 in Palermo, but was immediately postponed until October 23. 23 civil parties are represented at the trial, including nine migrants who were on board.

Salvini entered the League’s coalition government in 2018 with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5E), but in August 2019 he sparked a government crisis in hopes of reshaping the game in a parliamentary vote. anticipated.

The maneuver failed and the M5E succeeded in forming a new government with the Democratic Party (PD, center-left), which was replaced in early 2021 by a large coalition government including the League and led by Mario Draghi.