Premier Giorgia Meloni on Monday
expressed shock at a decision by a Catania court to release a
migrant from detention on the grounds that measures in a recent
government decree are allegedly illegitimate.
Under the decree, migrants can be held in pre-expulsion CPR
centres for up to 18 months but can post a 'bail' of 5,000 euros
in order to avert being detained, a measure that has spurred
widespread criticism.
"I was astonished by the Catania judge's ruling, which, on
incredible grounds... freed an illegal immigrant who had already
received a deportation order, unilaterally declaring Tunisia an
unsafe country (which is not the judiciary's job) and going
against the measures of a democratically elected government,"
Meloni said in a social-media post.
"It is not the first time this has happened but we will continue
to defend the borders (of Italy)".
She said the government was faced with a "difficult job" to
tackle illegal immigration but said its efforts would "bring
concrete results, with patience and determination.
"Of course, everything becomes much more difficult if, in the
meantime, other States are working in the diametrically opposite
direction, and if part of Italy is doing everything it can to
favour illegal immigration," she continued.
Meloni's government is currently engaged in a row with Berlin
over th German government's decision to fund NGOs operating
migrant-rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
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