© Associated Press
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A former Italian mayor hailed around the world for his innovative approach to integrating migrants was sentenced today to 13 years and two months in prison for violations committed in his work with asylum seekers, Reuters reported, citing his lawyers.
Between 2004 and 2018, Domenico Luciano, 63, was mayor of Riace, a village of about 1,900 people located on a hill in the southern Italian region of Calabria. In 2016, Fortune magazine named Luciano one of the 50 leading leaders in the world. “I spent my life opposing the mafia clans, supporting the most disadvantaged people – the migrants who arrived … today it’s all over for me,” Luciano told reporters in front of a court in the Calabrian town of Locri.
He was accused of misappropriation of funds, abuse of power and incitement to illegal migration by circumventing the established asylum procedure.
At the end of his reign, more than 300 residents of Riache were migrants.
“I expected to be completely justified, I did not imagine anything like that,” Luciano said. The shocking sentence was almost twice as long as the one requested by the prosecutors in the case, local media reported. His lawyers, Giuliano Pisapia and Andrea Daqua, called his sentence “absurd” and “contrary to all evidence”. They said they would appeal as soon as the court’s reasons came out. In Italy, the defendant has the right to appeal twice before the sentence has to be enforced.
The court ruling angered charities and left-wing politicians, but brought satisfaction to right-wing parties ahead of elections later this week in Calabria, where Luciano is a candidate for district council. “The left is nominating candidates sentenced to 13 years in prison,” wrote Liga party leader Matteo Salvini, a fierce opponent of Luciano’s migrant projects. / BTA
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