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Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini may be facing up to six years in prison for a 2019 decision that blocked a ship assisting migrants from docking in Italy, the Associated Press reported.

Salvini is charged with the kidnapping of the migrants on board the ship and dereliction of duty. A decision in the trial, which began in 2021, could be made as early as next month. If convicted, Salvini could be barred from holding public office.

Salvini has denied the charges. He said on X that “defending Italy is not a crime and I will not give up, not now, not ever.”

At the time, the ship, operated by the charity Open Arms, was carrying 147 migrants from Libya, and was hoping to dock on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, halfway between North Africa and mainland Europe.

Salvini, who was interior minister at the time, adopted a “closed ports” policy to deter migrants from entering Italy, turning away charity ships rescuing migrants at sea and accusing humanitarian organizations of encouraging human trafficking. The ship at the center of the case was stranded at sea for 19 days before a court order allowed it to dock.

During the trial, crewmembers have testified that the sanitary conditions of the migrants on board deteriorated during those 19 days in limbo, even resulting in a scabies outbreak, according to BBC news.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling Brothers of Italy party is currently in a coalition with Salvini’s right-wing League party. She wrote on X that “turning the duty to protect Italy’s borders from illegal immigration into a crime is a very serious precedent.”

Meanwhile, the verdict will affect not only Salvini, but the rights of migrants and humanitarian organizations to access Italian ports, the AP wrote.