Six years in prison: this is the prosecution's request exactly two years after the start of the trial against Matteo Salvini, who is accused of illegally denying, in August 2019, the Spanish NGO ship Open Arms to land 147 refugees rescued at sea in the port of Lampedusa. In August 2019, the Open Arms ship was detained for 20 days in Lampedusa because Matteo Salvini (then Interior Minister) did not allow the 147 refugees on board the NGO's vessel to disembark. It was, in fact, magistrates in Agrigento, following an inspection on board by then-prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio, who ordered the emergency disembarkation of the refugees, who were exhausted by the heat and the sea crossing. In November 2019, the ministerial court received a request from prosecutors to proceed with preliminary investigations against the Lega party leader. In the order, in which the court essentially accepts the reconstruction of the prosecutors, the judges affirm the principle of the obligation to provide rescue at sea and define as "administrative" and not political the act of prohibiting the landing of migrants ordered by Salvini. In short, the decision not to let the rescued refugees land in Lampedusa, according to the magistrates, was an act decided by the then Interior Minister individually, thus not "shared" with other members of the government, as the League leader has always maintained. Meanwhile, on May 26, 2020, the Senate Immunities Committee rejected the request, but on July 30 the Chamber, with 149 yes and 141 votes against, granted the authorization to proceed for the former minister and sent Salvini to trial. Thus, after the green light from Palazzo Madama, the Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office urges the indictment of the League leader. Giulia Buongiorno, Salvini's lawyer, is asking for a non-suit because the fact does not exist or, in the alternative, because of the fact's non-indictment. The Preliminary Hearing Judge Lorenzo Iannelli accepted the prosecution's argument and set the first hearing of the trial for September 15, 2021. During the trial, which went on for two years, prominent politicians such as former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, former Foreign Minister Giuseppe Di Maio or current Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, among others, testified. In addition, the court had also admitted the testimony of Richard Gere, who had boarded the ship to get a firsthand account of the conditions of the migrants, but the American actor had had to give up because he was busy on a film set.