Matteo Falcinelli, a 25-year-old Italian student originally from Spoleto, was arrested in Miami, Florida, in a particularly violent manner .

Il Quotidiano Nazionale reports it.

The young man was allegedly knocked to the ground, with his face pressed to the asphalt, then taken to prison. Once in a transit cell at the North Miami Beach police station, four of them hogtied him and subjected him to hogtie restraint. They tied their feet to handcuffs behind their backs with a strap, pulling for 13 minutes .

The boy, who has been in the USA for three years, is attending his master's degree at Florida International University (at the Biscayne Bay Campus). The scenes of violence were filmed by the bodycams worn by the officers , including the one inside the police station, which the young man's American lawyer managed to obtain from the prosecutor's office only on April 12 as part of the trial, which effectively ended with admission to the PTI (Pre trail intervention), a sort of re-educational programme, an alternative treatment to prison, the parallel of probation in Italy. The Italian lawyer assisting the family, Francesco Maresca, confirmed this to ANSA, adding that "at the end of this period, from a judicial point of view this matter is over for him".

" I have my rights, I'm just trying to ask for my rights ," says the young man as they hog him in the barracks. In the video you can hear screams of pain and the boy repeatedly saying "please, please".

The episode dates back to the night between 24 and 25 February. Matteo's family wanted to report it only now that the young man has accepted the program ordered by the judge which will nullify the four charges for resisting a public official, opposing the arrest without violence and trespass . The family - we read - wants to press charges. From the first reconstruction of the same family it emerges that the young man had gone to a club where he had met some people and drank some drinks . Memories are blurred, he doesn't remember how he got to the exit where there was a police patrol. The police will write that they intervened because the boy created problems in the place so much so that he was thrown out and that he resisted arrest, resisting the officers.

The mother's words: «What my son suffered must never happen again, much less to a 25-year-old boy studying abroad. Matteo, cheerful and full of life, took away his smile and destroyed his dreams, even leading him to try to take his own life. He was tortured: just watch the videos to understand . He's very sick. They destroyed his life. He is followed by psychologists and psychiatrists. He was initially hospitalized due to his serious injuries, then transferred to a psychiatric hospital because he was at risk of suicide . Even now at night he dreams of the arrival of the police who torture him and he wakes up screaming."

The parents are now in Miami, on campus. «Matteo avoids going out - he says - he is terrified that it could happen again. I will not have peace until we have justice, which is why I need everyone's help to carry on this battle for human rights and to condemn the torture of a human being."

The Italian consulate general in Miami, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says, has been following the case from the beginning: «In addition to intervening with the local authorities, it has provided the necessary assistance to the compatriot and family members, also providing contacts for the legal office, then chosen by the family". The consul general in Miami, states a note from the Farnesina, underlined with the local authorities "the unacceptability of the treatments" that the young man underwent. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani himself urged the utmost attention of the US ambassador to Italy Jack Markell, recalling that the Italian Government "dutifully follows every case of detention of Italian citizens abroad". "Until the conclusion of the matter, the Consulate General, in agreement with the Farnesina, will continue to assist the compatriot, maintaining close contact with the family."

(Unioneonline/L)

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