August 2019. Salvini defended the claims, and said his actions only went as far as protecting Italy. "Defending Italy is not a crime. I am proud of it, I would do it again, and I will do it again," Salvini was quoted as saying. In May 2021, a preliminary investigations judge dismissed a charge of instigation against Salvini. He had been accused of urging violence against Carola Rackete for calling her a criminal. The investigation found that he was not responsible for her receiving death threats from others. Also in May 2021, Salvini sued media magnate Carlo De Benedetti for defamation in Cuneo, Piedmont. De Benedetti, who is Jewish, had called Salvini an antisemite. In October 2021, Salvini's second trial on migrant kidnapping charges began in Palermo, Sicily. The American actor Richard Gere was called upon as a witness by Open Arms, since he had gone on board of their rescue boat in an act of solidarity with the crew and passengers. Political views Domestic policy Salvini has been described as hard Eurosceptic, holding a starkly critical view of the European Union (EU), especially of the euro, which he once described as a "crime against humanity". Though in October 2012, he said he supported euro for Northern Italy, whilst Southern Italy should not use it: "I in Milan want it, because here we are in Europe. The South, on the other hand, is like Greece and needs another currency. The euro cannot afford it." Salvini is also opposed to illegal immigration into Italy and the EU and the EU's management of asylum seekers. In September 2018, he said: "I'm paid by citizens to help our young people start having children again the way they did a few years ago, and not to uproot the best of the African youth to replace Europeans who are not having children anymore". His political views have been described as on the far-right, espousing policies such as, among others, collecting census data on and expelling members of the Roma community living illegally in Italy. On economic issues, he supports a flat tax, tax cuts, fiscal federalism, protectionism, and, to some extent, agrarianism. On social issues, Salvini opposes same-sex marriage, civil unions and adoption as well as anti-discrimination laws, while he supports the legalisation of brothels. He supports looser gun laws and has pushed that issue as interior minister. Salvini has criticized mandatory vaccination laws. In