Trial opens against Italy’s Salvini for blocked migrant ship

MILAN (AP) — Italy’s right-wing former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has gone on trial charged with kidnapping for refusing in 2019 to allow a Spanish migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily, keeping the people onboard at sea for days. It is the first trial to go ahead against Salvini for his actions preventing migrant landings while he served as interior minister from 2018-2019 in an uneasy coalition between the populist 5-Star Movement and his right-wing League. Salvini was present for the opening day of the trial in Palermo, Sicily, which was expected to deal mostly with procedural requests.