in October 2017 On 12 December 2016, Minniti was appointed new
Minister of the Interior in the government of
Paolo Gentiloni. On 23 December 2016, Anis Amri, the perpetrator of the
Berlin truck attack on 19 December, was killed in a shootout with police in front of the
Sesto San Giovanni railway station, near
Milan,
Italy. The suspect had just arrived by train from
Chambéry, France (via
Turin). During a routine patrol, two police officers asked to search his backpack after he said he did not have any identity documents. Amri then pulled out a gun and shot one of the officers in the shoulder. The other officer responded by shooting Amri. Minniti stated that a policeman had been hospitalized with a shoulder injury. One of the first actions as minister was the reopening and increase of the
Identification and Expulsion Centres (CIE) and the doubling of the expulsions of irregular immigrants; this measures was supported by the Chief of Police
Franco Gabrielli, but was harshly criticized by the left-wing opposition of
Italian Left, and also by intellectuals and writers like
Roberto Saviano. On 9 January 2017, Minniti traveled to
Libya to begin the negotiations with President
Fayez al-Sarraj to sign a new agreement on repatriation of irregular immigrants. On this occasion it was reopened the Italian
embassy in
Tripoli that, previously, had been closed. In May 2017, Minniti met the Interior Ministers of
Niger,
Chiad, and
Libya, with whom he announced that Italy would build
migration centers in
North Africa to stop the migration through the Mediterranean Sea. However, Minniti was often accused by his critics of being responsible for severe human rights violations of refugees trapped in Libyan detention centers. Minniti remained in office until 1 June 2018, when
Matteo Salvini was appointed new Interior Minister in the government of
Giuseppe Conte.
NGO Code in 2017 In July 2017, he promoted the so-called "Minniti Code", which must be subscribed by the
NGOs that are involved in rescuing asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. Among other things, the code forbids NGO vessels entering
Libyan territorial waters. Minniti warned those NGOs who did not sign the pact that they have set themselves "outside of the organised system for rescue at sea". Some NGOs refused to sign the new code of conduct;
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was the first charity to officially announce its refusal of the code, saying that there were no conditions under which to sign. Facing growing public discontent and scrutiny by the Italian, Libyan, and EU authorities, MSF had to suspend its activities in the Mediterranean sea. The German NGO, Sea Watch, said that the code was "largely illegal" and "will not save lives but will have the opposite effect".
Macerata shooting In his last year as Minister of the Interior, Minniti faced the important issue related to a
right-wing terrorist shooting occurred in
Macerata by a 28-year-old man, inviting political parties to tone moderation and harshly condemning the attack, saying that no political party must "ride the hate". ==After the government==