(ANSA) - Rome, October 19 - Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano
said Thursday that an Italian who had been held on the
Indonesian island of Bali for over a year has been released.
"Carmine Sciaudone, a compatriot held on Bali for over a
year, is free and is returning to Italy," Alfano said in a
foreign ministry statement.
Alfano has raised the question with the aim of bringing it to
a rapid solution, including at a meeting with his Indonesian
counterpart on October 11.
Alfano said "this is a positive outcome, which we greet with
joy, of a case which I have personally followed step by step
since the start.
"Over the course of these months, Carmine Sciaudone and his
relatives here in Italy have been constantly assisted and with
the maximum attention by the foreign ministry and our embassy in
Jakarta.
"I take the opportunity to underscore the excellent work
which the General Directorate for Italians Abroad carries out
every day, also through the diplomatic and consular network, in
support of co-nationals who find themselves in situations of
difficulty outside our country".
The mayor of Sciaudone's home town of Latina south of Rome,
Damiano Colletta, said "we are eagerly awaiting to welcome him
home".
The Latina-born fillmaker was arrested in May 2016 on charges
of filing without a permit.
At the time, Sciaudone only had a tourist visa.
"We hail the news of his release with great joy," said
Coletta.
Italian held on Bali released - Alfano (5)
Carmine Sciaudone had been in jail for over a year