The alleged defamation occurred against the German captain of an NGO ship that forced entry into an Italian port after rescuing 53 migrants and refugees in the Libyan search and rescue zone in June 2019.
Salvini, who was interior minister at the time, called the Sea Watch 3 commander Carola Rackete a criminal who had allegedly tried to kill Italian police by ramming their boat in defiance of italy’s closed ports policy.
He also said she was in league with migrant traffickers.
Rackete, 34, who took the decision to enter port in Lampedusa after the condition of the migrants on board became desperate after almost two weeks at sea, sued Salvini for his allegedly defamatory statements about her.
The chamber upheld the February verdict of the Senate committee on parliamentary immunity that his words were unquestionable with 82 votes in favour, 60 against and 5 abstentions.
Rackete’s Italian lawyer described the decision as “predictable and expected”.
“It is the unquestionableness of the insult,” said Alessandro Gamberini.
“It is interesting to note how parliament has deemed expressions such as ‘German tick’, to defend those who pronounce them, far more than they do a woman who has been forced to suffer them, as stating an opinion,” he added.
In Italian, the word ‘tick’ is a right-wing epithet for someone on the left.
ANSA
