A verdict is expected on Friday in the trial of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is accused of kidnap and dereliction of duty over his refusal to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019.

Italy’s deputy premier, Matteo Salvini, is sounding defiant as he awaits Friday’s verdict in Sicily for blocking some 100 migrants at sea on a humanitarian rescue boat in 2019 when he was interior minister.

A court in Palermo is expected to deliver a verdict on Friday in a kidnapping trial involving Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, who risks a six-year prison term for holding a boat full of migrants offshore for almost three weeks in 2019.

Italian far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini risks six years in prison as he hears a Sicilian court's verdict on Friday over his August 2019 decision to block a migrant rescue boat from docking.

After a trial that has lasted three years, with 24 hearings and 45 witnesses, a verdict will be finally reached in the "Open Arms trial" this Friday in Palermo. But this will be no ordinary verdict – Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini could face a sentence of up to six years in prison.

Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister, faces a possible six-year prison term if a court finds him guilty on Friday of kidnapping a boat full of migrants who were held offshore Italy for almost three weeks in 2019.

Matteo Salvini awaits a verdict in Sicily for preventing some 100 migrants from disembarking a rescue boat in 2019 when he was interior minister.