Italian reporter and documentary
filmmaker specializing in migrant issues Gabriele Del Grande
said he had suffered no physical violence after returning to
Italy on Monday following release from Turkish custody.
"I am fine and I did not suffer any sort of violence," Del
Grande stressed after Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano welcomed
him on his arrival at the Bologna airport.
"The problem was the detention itself, the privation of
personal freedom...
"I have been the victim of institutional violence.
"What happened to me is illegal. A private journalist was
deprived of freedom while working in a friendly country".
He said that he had been stopped by men in plain clothes and
not in uniform and so was unable to understand whether he had
been detained by the police or the gendarme.
"I do not understand why I was detained," he said. "The
lawyers will try to find out."
Del Grande was detained on April 9 close to Turkey's border
with Syria and afterwards transferred to a migrant center in the
city of Mugla.
After 11 days of detention without charges in Turkey, Del
Grande was finally seen Friday by the Italian consul in Turkey
and his lawyer at the administrative detention centre at Mugla.
Del Grande was well but on hunger strike, Alfano said.
The EU on Thursday had said that it was backing Italy in its
bid to get Del Grande released as soon as possible.
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