«Video and audio interceptions, evidence against the NGO ship»- Corriere.it

FROM OUR REPORTER
PALERMO — «Thank you for the question because it allows me to clarify that what was stated in the past by the lawyer Bongiorno, at the time a member of the government like me, is totally false”. Danino Toninelliformer five-star Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, responding to a civil defender.

“But are you a graduate? Shall I call you doctor or how else?” Shortly afterwards Bongiorno herself addressed him, revealing to the president of the court: «Mr. Toninelli is already in judgment on my lawsuit, so the bitterness is understandable».

At his side, from the dock, Matteo Salvini watches amused: he is the only one who is still a minister in this anomalous reunion between former colleagues of the first executive led by Joseph Contewith a Lega-Five Star majority, gathered in the Ucciardone bunker hall.

Beyond Toninelli, Good morning And Salvini there is also the former defense minister Elizabeth Thirtywitness to prosecutors who accuse the Northern League leader of kidnapping for having denied disembarkation to 147 migrants aboard the Spanish vessel Open Armsbetween 14 and 20 August 2019.

To prosecutors Calogero Ferrara and Giorgia Righi, Trenta recalled that she too initially signed the ban on entry to the Open Arms in Italian waters, on the basis of the “potential offensiveness” for national security certified by the then Minister of the Interior. But then the Lazio TAR suspended the effectiveness of that decree and on August 15, Salvini sent him another which reiterated the ban: «I didn’t sign it because it seemed wrong to me to re-propose a decision already rejected by the TAR, without there being any new elements and while the situation aboard the ship was deteriorating. Fighting the smuggling of migrants is fine, but I felt that reiterating the disembarkation ban violated human rights.”

When his turn comes, Bongiorno (head of public administration in the Conte I government) reveals what according to the defense is a twist: from a Navy submarine which guarded the Mediterranean were made audio-video recordings which they would demonstrate anomalies in the behavior of the Open Arms; including a conversation between one person aboard the Spanish vessel and another nearby.

Deeds transmitted at the time with information to the Ministry of Defence, and later to the Sicilian judicial offices, but which have only come to light now with the filing by the Palermo prosecutor’s office. “Let’s see if these anomalies finally come to light, together with the ghost information also hidden in the TAR, the Senate and the investigating judge”, the lawyer will explain later.

Trenta says she hasn’t heard anything about it and repeats that the only information on security came from the Interior Ministry: «It was Salvini who decided on the appropriateness of blocking the shipIf it had been up to me, I would have behaved differently”. It is the reason why the former Minister of the Interior is on trial and she is not, as well as Toninelli who takes the witness stand immediately afterwards.

The former owner of Transport (a position held today by Salvini), who in Catania for the story of the Gregoretti ship (where Salvini was acquitted in a preliminary hearing) had replied with a series of “I don’t remember”, shows that he remembers everything very well and summarizes the heart of the problem: «I too agreed to fight illegal immigration, and in those days I made statements against the Open Arms, which had not behaved correctly, and Europe, which had to take on the problem; on that point there was a collective political responsibility of the government which, however, already no longer existed in those August days. The League had opened the crisis and Salvini, thinking he was already in the electoral campaign, spoke to the belly of the citizens”.

Moreover, if there hadn’t been a split between Lega and 5 Star, it is probable that this process would not have been authorized by the Senate.

The repeated ban on landing, according to Toninelli, was son of the ex-minister’s propagandaand the responsibility was hers alone: ​​«Lawyer Bongiorno said that before the Councils of Ministers she and the others waited for hours because I, Conte, Salvini and Di Maio were closed discussing the relocation of migrants to other countries, but not never waited a second because there never was a meeting.’

Bongiorno recontests Toninelli’s previous statements on “collegiate choices” in other cases, bringing back old grievances with the former colleague who accuses: “You confuse the waters by putting pears and apples together”. Later Salvini confirms that he has had many meetings with Conte and Di Maio, “but perhaps Toninelli wasn’t there, I don’t know why his bosses didn’t call him”. And he insists, with regard to “phantom information”, that “it would be very serious if any organ of the State had hidden, omitted or forgotten relevant documents”.

On January 13, the duel between former allies will be repeated with the testimonies of Giuseppe Conte, Luigi Di Maio and Luciana Lamorgese.