Libya, Italian fishermen: they want to frame them for drug trafficking

(by Andrea Pinto) The news is very weak in the media that 18 Sicilian fishermen since last September XNUMXst are being held in Benghazi by circles close to the general Kalifa Haftar. Leaving from Mazara del Vallo, they would have been found fishing in Libyan waters. Everyone in the government thought it was a trivial diplomatic incident, which would be resolved in a few days. Their immediate release was expected, in consideration of the Italian support for the Government of National Accord run by Fayez al Serraj, instead of directly getting in the way of General Haftar who controls the city of Benghazi. Precisely that Haftar, lord of Cyrenaica and strenuous opponent of al Serraj (Serraj announced his resignation in the current month of October).

In the meantime, it is unclear whether or not the fishermen are in detention on charges of transport and drug trafficking. The Libyan police allegedly found some blocks of drugs in the fishing boats and showed the public opinion. A version that hardly convinces the Italian owners of the two Italian fishing boats Antarctica and Medinea: the fishing boats were left unattended on the Benghazi pier, no one checked, or sealed them as they should.

The story then took on a different and pretext connotation. Environments near Haftar have made an unusual request for a ransom, transforming our fishermen from simple detainees for investigation to real "hostages". The Libyans are asking for the release of four of their compatriots arrested in 2015 in Catania, tried in the Court of Assizes and in the Supreme Court, sentenced to 30 years as migrant traffickers and murderers. For the Libyans of Benghazi, however, they are considered only young soccer players. These are the twenties Joma Tarek Laamami, Abdel-Monsef, Mohannad Jarkess and Abd Arahman Abd Al Monsiff. 

At the port of Benghazi over the course of the days, demonstrations by the local population took turns asking for the release of the four players in search of fortune abroad. They said they had to travel to Germany to be enrolled in youth soccer teams. 

A thesis considered repulsive by the public prosecutor of Catania since the beginning of the story Carmel Zuccaro"Other than young players. They weren't even convicted of murder just because they didn't command the boat. However, they caused the death of those they transported, 49 migrants kept in the hold. Let yourself die in a ruthless way. Locking the hatch so as not to find them on deck. One of the most brutal episodes ever recorded ”. 

Prosecutor Zuccaro specifies on the possibility of an exchange of hostages: "I don't think we will be questioned, but as legal practitioners we would be absolutely against it. It would be repulsive ”. 

In the meantime, however, the families of the 18 fishermen and the owners of the two fishing boats are starting to get impatient against the inefficiency of the Italian government. Leonardo Gancitano, the Antarctic shipowner strongly supports this: "We realized that only Turkey and France have relations with that piece of Libya. And so we thought that perhaps it is better to turn to Macron, rather than Conte".

The family members of the seafarers demonstrated in front of Palazzo Montecitorio. Then during the TV show Fourth Republic by Nicola Porro one of the mothers of the fishermen denounced: "They want to frame us". The lady then publicly "shouted" the inaction of the institutions, complaining of being tired of having to interface only with the staff of the foreign minister and not directly with him.

It is no coincidence that after a couple of days, yesterday the lady followed by a small delegation of family members was received by Di Maio himself and the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Together with them also the owner Marrone, who has become the spokesperson for the demands of people now at the end of the day and at the limit of endurance. The president of the Region In the Musumeci intervened in recent days asking the national government to speed up the time frame for the release of the 18 seafarers: “There are the families of the 18 fishermen who are waiting with anguish and trepidation for the Farnesina to make known the truth, whatever it may be. The reassurances you give me of what else they will want to accuse us "

Libya, Italian fishermen: they want to frame them for drug trafficking

| EVIDENCE 1, MONDO |