Validated arrest and preventive detention in prison for the 25-year-old Pakistani man who on Monday around 1 pm, at Milan Central Station, beat, threatened and insulted a Jewish American tourist. In a live hearing held yesterday, judge Sofia Fioretta defined the facts as “serious and brutal”, underlining the “absence of repentance” on the part of the defendant and accepting the prosecutor’s request.
In the courtroom, the 25-year-old, officially defended by lawyer Gianluca Rozza, confessed to the attack and the racist sentence: “Damn Jews – he shouted at the station – you killed the children. I will kill you”. He repeated everything even in front of the Polfer officers who arrested him and declared: “Allah akbar”. The man, who will stand trial on December 4, is accused of causing aggravated personal injury by reason of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. In Italy he was homeless and, based on initial checks, he had no criminal record or connections to Islamists.
On Monday, FS security officers saw a young man kicking and punching a tourist who was waiting for a train accompanied by several relatives. The group consisted of Orthodox Jews wearing traditional clothing. The 25-year-old man slurred at them and hit the victim in the head several times with a large ring he was wearing on his finger. He continued to beat the tourist, even when he was on the ground. This was not only visible from the victim’s father-in-law who was interviewed by officers, but also from surveillance camera images. The defendant explained in court that he had been in Italy, without family, for about three years.
That he had never been arrested before, that he had worked as a laborer and that he had studied Italian in our country. He also said he regularly prays at the mosque once a week, but does not depend on the Islamic community in the city. He faces up to six years in prison.
