The former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano, upon arrival at the Court of Locri
Mimmo Lucano remains out of the city council.
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Riace: another investigation into Lucano, accused of fraud and forgery
Migrant management in Riace, Mimmo Lucano indicted along with 26 other suspects
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11 June 2019 The trial before the Court of Locri against the former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano and other 26 people for alleged offenses in the management of the migrant reception system in the center of Locri has been postponed to Monday 17 June. The hearing this morning was occupied by the examination of the preliminary objections presented by the defendants of the accused. The panel, chaired by Fulvio Accurso, reserved the right to decide on the preliminary exceptions, setting the resumption of the trial for next Monday.
Lucano: "It is not a political process"
"I do not consider this Locri a political process, but my story has hurt me a lot. I have always worked in favor of the weak and the marginalized. And I am committed to a humane and not inhumane society". This was stated by the former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano, speaking with journalists in Locri before the start of the first hearing of the trial which sees him accused, along with 26 other people, for irregularities and crimes that would have been committed in the center of the Locride to welcome migrants and manage their presence .. "I would not know how to live - added Lucano - far from social, human and political commitment without necessarily occupying roles. Riace's beautiful story began long before I became mayor . An experience that can continue, beyond what happened,carrying forward the ideas that underlie it ".
The reference to the words of Pope Francis
"What is happening in this last period regarding the phenomenon of migrants, in general, represents a real human emergency - continued the former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano -. said Pope Francis, when the ports are closed for human beings and are left open, instead, for the trafficking of arms, we are in the presence of a world that is adrift ".
"Many people have suffered more than me"
"Being subjected to precautionary measures is like having suffered a sentence before the trial begins. I am left with the awareness that there are, even in history, many people who have suffered and are undergoing more serious things than me and the awareness that there are many people in Italy who are supportive and give me the feeling of not being alone ". This is what was declared to journalists by the former mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano, in front of the courthouse of Locri.
Operation Xenia
The accusations contested by the Locri Public Prosecutor's Office to the suspects are, for various reasons, criminal association, fraud with financial damage to the State, abuse of office, embezzlement, extortion, fraud in public supplies, forgery and aiding and abetting illegal immigration. operation "Xenia" which involved Lucano dates back to 2 October last year. Lucano was placed under house arrest on charges of
aiding and abetting illegal immigration and fraudulent direct assignment of the waste collection service. An investigation born after the findings of the first inspection on alleged irregularities in the management of the migrant project, and that despite the second inspection, favorable to the "Riace model",
a few days after Lucano's arrest, the Ministry of the Interior determined the withdrawal of funding, imposing 34 penalty points, and the closure of the Sprar, with migrants to be transferred away from Riace; exclusion then deemed illegitimate by the TAR. Subsequently, the precautionary measure was
attenuated by the Review Court, which, again in October last year, ordered the ban on staying in Riace for Lucano, the mayor that the US magazine "Fortune" had included among the 50 most influential people of the world, thanks to the model of welcoming migrants experienced in
your country.
Still in exile
In the meantime, the exile from Riace remains for the former mayor, Domenico Lucano, involved in an investigation by the Locri Public Prosecutor's Office in which, in 2018, house arrest was ordered for him, then revoked. Lucano is accused of a series of crimes related to the management of the reception of migrants in the center of Locride, a "model" that has given notoriety to Riace and Lucano also at an international level. This morning, just before the trial against Lucano and 26 other people for the facts that had led to the arrest of the mayor began before the Locri Court, it was learned that the Locri Court rejected a new request from the Lucano defenders for the revocation against him of the ban on staying in Riace, ordered as an alternative measure to arrest.The request was motivated by the fact that Lucano is no longer mayor, nor has he been re-elected to the City Council and therefore cannot repeat the crimes he is accused of.