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Former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini will stand trial on kidnapping charges, a judge ruled on Saturday.
Mr Salvini is facing the charges over his decision to refuse to let a Spanish migrant rescue ship dock in an Italian port in 2019, keeping the people on board at sea for days.
Judge Lorenzo Iannelli set a trial date in September during a hearing in the Palermo bunker courtroom in Sicily.
An Italian police vessel patrols around the Open Arms vessel, with 107 migrants on board, in 2019. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Mr Salvini, who attended the hearing, insisted that he was only doing his job and his duty by refusing entry to the