Italy government furious as court orders compensation for sea migrant

By Alvise Armellini

ROME (Reuters) -An Eritrean who was among a group of sea migrants held on an Italian coast guard vessel for 10 days in 2018 is entitled to compensation, Italy's top appeals court has ruled, triggering the fury of Italy's right-wing government.

More than 150 migrants were blocked at sea on the Diciotti coast guard ship in August 2018 as then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused to let them disembark in the Sicilian port of Catania.

Some 41 of them, from Eritrea, turned to the courts with the assistance of rights activists, seeking damages for illegal detention. After their case was twice rejected by lower courts, in 2019 and 2024, one took it to the top Court of Cassation.

On Thursday the court ruled in favour of the migrant, who was not named.

"Government actions can never be considered exempt from judicial review when they go beyond the limits imposed by the Constitution and the law, especially when the fundamental rights of citizens (or foreigners) are at stake," the Cassation said.

Meloni, whose administration has taken a hard line on immigration and has clashed several times with the judiciary, including over a stalled plan to send sea migrants to Albania, vented her indignation.

Writing on X, she said it was "very frustrating" to be forced to compensate "people who attempted to enter Italy illegally ... with the money of honest Italian citizens who pay taxes" when state resources are scarce.

The Cassation left it to lower-level judges to determine how much compensation the migrant should get, but the amount is likely to be between 1,000 and 2,000 euros ($ 1,087-2,174), according to experts.

"Let the judges pay and welcome the illegal immigrants, if they care so much," Salvini, who is now deputy prime minister and transport minister, said on X, slamming the Cassation's ruling as "yet another disgrace."

One of the activists who gave legal aid to the migrants, Giovanna Cavallo, told Reuters all 41 of them had obtained refugee status, so calling them "clandestine", as Meloni's party has done on social media, was incorrect.

Nearly all have relocated to other European countries, Cavallo said.

She also said the 40 migrants who did not continue the legal battle might still earn the right to compensation and this would be decided by the courts in coming months.

In the 2018 episode, Salvini eventually relented after Albania and Ireland offered to accept some of the blocked migrants, and Italy's Catholic Church agreed to take responsibility for the rest at no cost to the taxpayer.

Prosecutors in Sicily had sought in 2018 to investigate Salvini for abuse of power and kidnapping of the migrants, but the Italian Senate denied them permission, ending the case.

($1 = 0.9198 euros)

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Angus MacSwan)