ROME - An Italian prosecutor on Saturday asked a judge to sentence right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini to six years in prison over his 2019 decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in the country.

The then interior minister, who is currently serving as deputy prime minister and transport minister in Giorgia Meloni's government, has been charged with kidnapping and is awaiting sentencing following his decision that left the migrants stranded at sea.

Prosecutors had then ordered the seizure of their ship and the evacuation of the people on board.

On Saturday, the prosecutor asked for Salvini's imprisonment at a hearing in the Sicilian capital of Palermo. The final decision rests with a senior judge at the end of a three-stage judicial process.

A definitive conviction could bar Salvini from holding government office.

"I would do it all again: defending borders from illegal immigrants is not a crime," Salvini said in a post on X on Saturday.

During his 14 months as interior minister, Salvini stopped several boats from docking in Italy in an effort to halt migrant flows. He regularly accused migrant rescue charities of effectively encouraging people smuggling.

Salvini's League is part of Meloni's centre-right government.

"It is unbelievable that a minister of the Italian Republic risks six years in prison for doing his job of defending the nation's borders, as required by the mandate received from the citizens," Meloni said in a post on X.

"Turning the duty to protect Italy's borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent. My full solidarity," she added.

Meloni, who rose to power in 2022, has vowed to clamp down on unauthorised arrivals from North Africa with harsher immigration laws, restrictions on sea rescue charities and plans to build migrant reception camps in Albania.

At the same time, she has opened the door to hundreds of thousands of migrants to work in Italy legally in an effort to plug labour gaps in the country, and stop migrant smugglers.

Interior ministry data show the number of irregular migrants reaching Italy by sea so far in 2024 is around two third lower than in the same period last year, at 44,675 people.

  - Reuters