(Reuters) An Eritrean who was among a group of sea migrants held on an Italian coast guard vessel for 10 days in 2018 is entitled to compensation, Italy’s top appeals court has ruled, triggering the fury of Italy’s right-wing government.
More than 150 migrants were blocked at sea on the Diciotti coast guard ship in August 2018 as then-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused to let them disembark in the Sicilian port of Catania.
Some 41 of them, from Eritrea, turned to the courts with the assistance of rights activists, seeking damages for illegal detention. After their case was twice rejected by lower courts, in 2019 and 2024, one took it to the top Court of Cassation.
On Thursday the court ruled in favour of the migrant, who was not named.
