Italian prosecutors probe Salvini over refugees limbo

On Saturday afternoon the Barcelona-based NGO Open Arms' rescue vessel carrying 134 refugees off the coast of Sicily, in southern Italy, was authorized to disembark all 27 minors onboard.

According to Press TV, the refugees, most of whom from African countries, had been rescued off the coast of Libya 16 days ago. Members of the crew of the Open Arms described the refugee's health onboard rapidly deteriorating with frequent fights breaking among them.

For days Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had refused the rescue vessel to dock in the Sicilian Port of Lampedusa despite six European countries were willing to welcome some of the refugees saying that Open Arms could have taken the rescued people to Spain in the first place and that its decision is to blame for their plight.

Previously on Saturday Italian prosecutors launched an investigation into alleged kidnapping and abuse of office following Salvini's refusal to let the Open Arms dock at a safe port in Italy.

The far-right leader of the anti-immigrant party Salvini, has built his popularity campaigning unrelentlessly against illegal immigration.

The Open Arms vessel is at the centre of a political crisis in Italy. With the 5SM-League government on the verge of collapsing Salvini has recently signed a second decree in an attempt to block the ship, but in a demonstration of his diminished power, Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta from the 5SM blocked it as an act of “conscience”.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is slated to address the Senate on August 20 over Italy's political crisis after his coalition partner Salvini's League filed a no-confidence motion in the administration.

ME