Italy judges reject first migrant detentions in Albania

ROME: Italian judges ruled on Friday against the detention of the first migrants sent for processing in Albania, dealing a major blow to a flagship policy of Giorgia Meloni´s hard-right government.

Rome has repeatedly boasted that multiple EU countries are interested in the scheme as a way of processing asylum requests in countries outside the bloc, and Brussels has been watching closely.

But just days after the plan went live on Monday, the first group of migrants sent to non-EU Albania will have to leave again.

The judges ruled on the detention of a dozen men from Bangladesh and Egypt picked up in the Mediterranean and transferred by an Italian naval vessel on Monday.

They arrived at one of two Italian-run migrant centres in Albania on Wednesday.

The court said a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice meant the men do not meet the criteria for detention in Albania, and will instead have to be brought to Italy.

They will leave for Italy Saturday, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Prime Minister Meloni´s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party slammed the “politicised judges”, saying on X that the ruling made it “impossible” to send back irregular migrants.