Italy's deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, said Friday he had acted to "defend" his country as he prepared to testify in a trial over his 2019 decision to block a migrant ship from disembarking.

Salvini, the head of the far-right League party and a partner in current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition, strongly denies charges of deprivation of liberty and abuse of office over the incident in August 2019 when he was part of another government.

He has been on trial in Palermo, Sicily, since October 2021, accused of using his then-position as interior minister to detain 147 migrants at sea, refusing to let them disembark from the "Open Arms" charity rescue ship where sanitary conditions were rapidly deteriorating.

He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

As he arrived in court on Friday morning, Salvini wrote on social media that he was testifying with his "head held high, proud of what I did".

He said he had "defended the security and borders of my country".

A hardline populist known for an "Italians first" policy, Salvini has repeatedly used attacks against illegal immigration to boost his political capital.

In 2019, serving in a coalition government led by Giuseppe Conte, he implemented a "closed ports" policy, under which Italy refused entry to charity ships that rescue migrants making the often deadly journey across the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe.

Salvini claimed he was protecting Italy with his security law, casting it as a tough measure against traffickers who organise the frequently overcrowded boats from North Africa.

The 50-year-old has said the decision to prevent the rescue vessel operated by Spanish non-governmental organisation Open Arms from docking was agreed by the government, including by Conte.

Friday's hearing was the first time that Salvini, who has repeatedly scoffed what he deems to be a politically motivated trial, will have taken the stand.

'No legal basis'

The blockade of the ship lasted nearly three weeks before the migrants were finally allowed to disembark on the tiny island of Lampedusa following a court order.

Members of Open Arms have testified that the migrants' physical and mental wellbeing reached a crisis point, with dire sanitary conditions onboard including a scabies outbreak.

Passengers became so desperate that some of them jumped into the water in a stand-off that made global headlines and drew condemnation from humanitarian groups.

The incident took place at a time of political crisis in Rome, after Salvini pulled out of the government in an attempt to trigger new elections he hoped would put his League party in the driving seat.

Conte instead formed a new coalition, and in 2020 the Senate voted to strip Salvini of his parliamentary immunity, paving the way for him to face trial for the Open Arms stand-off and another similar case.

The other trial - in which Salvini was accused of refusing to allow 116 migrants to disembark from the Italian Gregoretti coastguard boat in July 2019 - was thrown out by a court in Catania in 2021.

Conte has testified in the current trial that he called for the evacuation of unaccompanied minors from the Open Arms ship. 

The ex-premier said he tried to "exercise moral suasion" with Salvini, saying he considered that "the decision to keep them on board had no legal basis". 

The defence is expected to begin its case next month. 

Actor and activist Richard Gere, who had boarded the migrant ship in solidarity, was initially on the witness list but in the end did not testify.

Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, has also taken a tough line on illegal migration.

Her coalition has limited the actions of charity ships by making them perform one rescue at a time and assigning them a port to disembark often on the other side of Italy.

Last year more than 157,000 migrants landed on Italy's shores, up from 105,000 in 2022, interior ministry figures show.