Italy’s supreme Cassation Court ruled on Friday in favour of an appeal by migrants denied disembarkation from the coast guard vessel Diciotti in 2018. The court upheld their claim that the Italian government had deprived them of personal freedom.
The Cassation’s panel of judges sent the case back to a regular court. The tribunal will decide the amount of compensation to be granted to the migrants.
The Diciotti picked up 190 migrants on 16 August 2018 from an overcrowded boat off Lampedusa. Malta had refused them entry. Thirteen were taken to Lampedusa due to serious medical conditions. The remaining 177, mostly from Eritrea, remained stranded on board for ten days.
At the time, then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had implemented a closed-ports policy. He was later investigated for allegedly abducting the migrants on the ship. However, the Senate, where Salvini was a member, rejected a tribunal request to proceed with the investigation.
Premier Giorgia Meloni criticised the ruling, calling it “questionable.” She said the court had affirmed “a highly questionable compensation principle”. She argued it contradicted consolidated case law and the prosecutor general’s conclusions.
“Due to this decision, the government will have to compensate illegal migrants using taxpayers’ money,” Meloni wrote on social media. She said such rulings did not help “citizens get closer to institutions.”
The League party, led by Salvini, called the ruling “absurd.” A statement posted on social media said, “These judges should pay with their own money if they love illegal migrants so much.”
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also disagreed with the ruling. He questioned its legal basis and stated, “The government’s duty is to defend national borders. If all irregular migrants demand compensation, the State will default.”
