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Matteo Salvini was interior minister when prevented the 147 migrants rescued by an NGO ship from disembarking in Italy

By Laura Gozzi

BBC News

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has defended his hard-line approach against illegal migration during a court appearance in Sicily.

He is facing kidnap and dereliction of duty charges for preventing migrants from disembarking an NGO ship in 2019.

He has denied the charges, saying he acted "in the interest of national security".

At the time, Mr Salvini - the leader of the right-wing League - was interior minister in a previous government.

Ahead of his court appearance, Mr Salvini said on X, formerly Twitter, that he was "holding his head high, proud of what I did".

In August 2019, a migrant rescue vessel belonging to Spanish NGO Open Arms arrived near Italian shores carrying 147 migrants who had been rescued in the Mediterranean.

Mr Salvini - who a year earlier had announced his intention to "close the ports" of Italy to NGO rescue ships - immediately signed a decree banning the vessel from entering Italian territorial waters.