ROME – Italy’s 5-Star Movement (M5S) is holding an online vote to decide if Interior Minister Matteo Salvini should be put on trial over migrant kidnapping charges, after he refused to allow 150 migrants to land in Sicily in August.

 Members, who are voting online Monday between 11am and 8pm, are being asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question – "Did the delay of the landing of the Diciotti ship, to redistribute migrants to various European countries, occur to protect the interests of the State?" 

 A majority ‘yes’ vote means denying authorisation to proceed while a ‘no’ signifies approval to proceed with the action.

 M5S founder Beppe Grillo ridiculed the vote on Twitter, suggesting the question was written in a confusing way – “If you vote YES it means NO and if you vote NO it means YES,” he tweeted.

 Magistrates in Catania, Sicily, are requesting authorisation from parliament to proceed against Salvini, who says he was doing his job as minister.

 The President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani has slammed as ridiculous M5S’s decision to entrust the Rousseau platform with the authorisation on whether or not to proceed against Salvini. 

 He declared it a “choice that offends parliamentary democracy [and] tries to take away the responsibility of the M5S, incapable of deciding whether to stand on the side of law or justicialism." Tajani then announced that Forza Italia will vote "no" in the institutional offices.

 A senate committee will vote on the issue tomorrow, followed by a vote in the upper house next month.

cc