Del Grande says victim of 'institutional violence'

(ANSA) - Rome, April 24 - 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.