A COURT in Sicily was expected last night to announce its verdict on whether Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini was guilty of illegally detaining 100 people aboard a humanitarian rescue ship when he was interior minister.

Mr Salvini faces up to six years in jail if convicted on charges of kidnapping for the 2019 incident when he refused to allow the refugees to leave the Open Arms rescue ship at Italy’s southern-most island of Lampedusa.

A sentence of over five years would also automatically bar him from office.