An Italian court on Wednesday
found the country of Tunisia guilty in the assault and battery
case of two Tunisian policemen who attacked two Italian
colleagues in Italy in 2008.
The court ordered Tunisia to pay 5,000 euros in damages to
police officer Laura Tassistro after she and a male colleague
were beaten up by two Tunisian officers in Genoa in November
2008. The court also sentenced each of the assailants to one
year in prison.
"This is the first time a foreign State has been convicted
in Italy for crimes committed by members of its law
enforcement," Tassistro's lawyer Michele Ispodamia said.
"This is a groundbreaking verdict that could serve as
precedent in cases for crimes against Italians abroad -
beginning with the Giulio Regeni case".
The 28-year-old Italian university researcher was severely
tortured and murdered in Cairo earlier this year.
The lawyer also said it took a year to overcome resistance
from the Italian foreign ministry to allow Tunisia to be cited
in the case, in the form of its ambassador to Italy, Naceur
Mestiri.
Tassistro and her colleague were beaten up after they asked
the two Tunisians for their shore pass as they were coming
ashore. The Tunisians refused and became belligerent, and
attacked the Italians after they tried to take them both down to
the police station for questioning.
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