When Italy s former interior minister banned migrants from disembarking in the country s ports, he acted with the government s full knowledge in order to protect Italy, according to a document submitted by Lega chief Matteo Salvini to the immunity committee of Italy s upper house on Friday.

„My country is my home. If you ring my doorbell and I know you, I will let you in, but if you jump over the fence, I ll send you away (…) I am ready to stand trial or go to prison, I don t care. I m ready to risk 18 years in jail,” Italy s former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wrote in a 30-page document submitted to the immunity committee of the upper house in response to the proceedings initiated against him by the council of ministers for refusing to issue docking permission to a ship carrying migrants.

The first part of the submitted document reconstructs in detail the decisions made last summer in the case of the Gregoretti – the Italian coast guard ship – carrying 131 migrants on board. The rest of the document includes official e-mails as attachments.

The boat received permission to berth at the military port of Augusta, eastern Sicily, on 26 July, but migrants were only allowed to disembark on 31 July after five EU member states had agreed to take them in.

The proceedings against Matteo Salvini were initiated by the prosecutor s office in Syracuse, Sicily, for allegedly restricting the personal freedom of migrants on board and  breaching international conventions, as well as for abuse of power and the „unjustified” denial of a safe harbour.

Although the accusations were rejected by the higher-level  prosecutor s office in Catania, the council of ministers overruled the decision and proposed to waive Salvini s immunity at the onset of the election campaign. The council of ministers acts as the legal body competent in cases that involve current or former members of government. The legal body turned to the Senate President, who forwarded the request to the immunity committee of Italy s upper house.

The committee will begin deliberating the request on 8 January and is expected to issue a legal opinion on 20 January. Taking this into account, the upper house will also vote on the question. The vote in the Senate will likely take place in February or March.