Ousseynou Sy, the 47-year-old
Senegalese-Italian accused of attacking last March a bus with
schoolchildren aboard and subsequently setting it on fire in an
apparent attempt to kill them, told a court on Monday he is
neither a killer nor a terrorist.
"I am neither a killer nor a terrorist and I hope justice
will be done also for us Africans", the defendant said in a
spontaneous statement to the court.
"I am also a son of Africa, the Africa that you know very
well, that has seen its sons deprived of human dignity, of any
right to serenity, of happiness, even today".
The man is accused of hijacking the bus with 50 pupils, two
teachers and a janitor on board in San Donato Milanese on March
20.
"As an Italian citizen and an African, I accuse"
anti-immigration League leader Matteo Salvini, who was deputy
premier and interior minister at the time of the hijacking, "and
his government of crimes against humanity and genocide".
Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from
Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004, got off the
bus after it was stopped by police, alerted by 'hero' students
on board.
He is also accused of setting it alight.
The Carabinieri managed to get the children out by smashing
windows at the back.
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