“Life destroyed, he is guarded day and night” –

The video showing the arrest on the street and subsequently custody in a transit cell in Miami, Florida, of Matteo Falcinelli, a 25-year-old Umbrian student from the USA, has become a case. The police brutality culminated in 13 minutes in which the young man was pinned and “hogtied” on the ground, with a knee pressed on his neck. A real torture for the family who today wants justice. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani urged the United States Ambassador to Italy Jack Markell to pay the utmost attention to the Falcinelli affair, recalling that the Italian Government dutifully follows every case of detention of Italian citizens abroad. The Farnesina makes this known. The boy was arrested outside a nightclub in Miami Beach. The Miami police had charged him with several crimes, including non-violent resistance to a public official. He was released two days following the arrest in connection with the disappearance of the boy’s cell phones in the club. The Consulate General in Miami, explains the Farnesina, immediately took action: in addition to intervening with the local authorities, it provided the necessary assistance to the compatriot and family members, also providing contacts for the legal office, then chosen by the family. Until the conclusion of the matter, the Consulate General, in agreement with the Farnesina, will continue to assist the compatriot, maintaining close contact with the family.

«What my son suffered must never happen once more to any other person in the world, much less to a 25-year-old boy, a university student abroad. They took away Matteo’s smile and destroyed his dreams, leading him to even try to take his own life. He was tortured: you just need to watch the videos to realize it. The actions of the police reminded me of the torture that the Gestapo carried out on prisoners during the Second World War and I will go to the end to obtain justice”, he states in an interview with Quotidiano Nazionale (the newspaper that released the video), Vlasta Studenicova the student’s mother. His son, Matteo Falcinelli «is ill, very ill. They destroyed his life. He is followed by psychologists and psychiatrists. He was initially admitted to a hospital due to the serious injuries he had sustained. He was later transferred to a psychiatric hospital because he was at risk of suicide – due to the brutal torture inflicted on him he attempted to take his own life several times. Even now at night he dreams of the arrival of the police who torture him and he wakes up screaming. I have to watch him day and night.”

From a physical point of view «he has damage to the nerves of both hands caused by the handcuffs being tightened beyond belief, his blood was no longer circulating: at the beginning he mightn’t even hold a cup in his hand, and now he can’t open the door. bottle cap and both hands are asleep. In addition to that he also has serious neck and back problems.”