Prisoners abroad, sometimes in degrading and inhuman conditions: the case of Ilaria Salis, detained for almost a year in Hungary and who in the last hours has been holding court in Italy, recalls other stories of Italians imprisoned in foreign cells between denied rights and the endless wait for a sentence. Carlo D'Attanasio, the 55-year-old sailor from Pescara arrested on the Oceania peninsula in August 2020 on charges of international drug trafficking, risks dying in Papua New Guinea. He has always declared himself innocent and the charges have yet to be proven. After harsh detention in a dilapidated cell, about two years ago, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and was transferred to hospital. He needs urgent care, yet D'Attanasio is still there while everything around him is at a standstill. As well as the repatriation request signed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani last April.
His partner Juanita Costantini, with whom Carlo has a 7-year-old son, launches an appeal: “To save himself he needs to be operated on as soon as possible, but it is not clear why he is not given this possibility. He is in hospital, where he does not receive treatment. To treat his suffering – he tells Adnkronos – he is given strong drugs: thus, day after day, he continues to 'do drugs' so as not to die of pain! A few days ago he was taken from the hospital room and brought back in prison and for no reason thrown to the ground among the dirt. The next day, only thanks to the intervention of the embassy officials, he was able to return to the hospital. Carlo is about to die… he needs urgent surgery and the structure where he is hospitalized, he doesn't have the tools. He must be repatriated, stay close to his loved ones, as the doctor said.”
“It was an ordeal for Carlo even to be able to obtain the tests that later revealed his illness – explains Juanita Costantini – He had internal haemorrhages, blood loss and excruciating pain but before anyone took his situation seriously he had to threaten to take one's own life.” In the meantime, the judicial proceedings continue, but the times are long and fruitless: “After two hearings that led to nothing, the next one is scheduled for February 13th. Of the repatriation request signed by Minister Tajani, on which in any case there is no was due date, however, we received no news.” Evidence against Carlo? “They aren't there, so much so that so far everything is on stand-by. But for now he has only one request: the possibility of being able to save himself, of being subjected to an operation in Australia too. But do they really want to condemn the man to death father of a probably innocent 7-year-old?”
D'Attanasio, having undertaken a solo sailing trip, arrived in Papua New Guinea in March 2020 where he stopped for 5 months. Before leaving he is blocked and arrested. He was accused by the two men who survived the crash on the island of a small plane inside which the police found 611 kg of cocaine, probably destined for Australia.
D'Attanasio is accused of international drug trafficking. After a few months, however, the accusations begin to falter, the local press itself begins to doubt the Italian's guilt. But he is still stuck in what his partner calls “a surreal situation”.
(by Sibilla Bertollini)
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