From Hungary to Romania. Ilaria Salis is not the only Italian detained abroad in “inhuman conditions”. “I’m dealing with a similar case, in Romaniathat of Filippo Moscaan Italian from Caltanissetta who went to a music festival in May last year, was accused of international trafficking of narcotic substancessentenced to 8 years and 6 monthswhich is located in the Porta Alba prison in Costanza (in Romania, ed.), 24 prisoners in a 30m2 cell,” he told the news agency beraking latest news Rita Bernardinipresident of the AssociationLet no one touch Cain‘, which made a lawyer available to intervene with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Filippo Mosca has 29 years old and has been held for almost nine months in the prison of Porta Alba of Costanza in Romania, after a first degree sentence of 8 years and 6 months for international drug trafficking. Mosca, originally from Caltanissetta, had decided last April with some friends to go to the Mamaia music festival, which takes place every year at the beginning of May in Costanza. A holiday that turned into a nightmare both for Filippo and for his mother, Ornella Matraxia, 55 years old, who lives in London, with her other two daughters Claudia and Arianna, where she teaches Italian to children of Italian parents: “My son lives in a cell of about 30 m2 with 24 other inmates, who have at his disposal a hole in the floor as a bathroom. Not a squat toilet, but a hole, used by everyone, always clogged and never cleaned. The sanitary conditions are nothing short of disastrous.”
Meanwhile, the deputy of Italia Viva Roberto Giachetti announced a parliamentary question on the matter. Yesterday Filippo would have suffered violence by other inmates, risking being stabbed. The case is also known to the Farnesina with which Ornella Matraxia is in constant contact. Filippo Mosca had returned to Caltanissetta after managing a restaurant in Ibiza, which was then taken over. Two days ago, his mother reports, he was involved in a fight in his cell: “He received two punches in the facehis lip was split, a container of boiling water was poured on him, another inmate tried to hit my son with a knife to the stomach, fortunately he was stopped by another cellmate.” Philip was taken to the infirmary for the burn, then he was transferred to another cell.
The mother states that as punishment her son will no longer be able to go shopping, will no longer be able to receive visits or even packages from outside for two months. Every month, the mother travels from London to Constance, rents a B&B, and cooks for her son, so that he can have a hot, healthy meal in prison. For eight months, she continues, she could only see Philip through the glass. Then in December the situation changed. “But the conditions of the inmates are inhuman – underlines Ornella – Porta Alba is one dilapidated structureit’s very cold and I couldn’t even bring a blanket, because an authorization is needed which Filippo was denied. There is a lack of food, hygiene and healthcare. You can take a shower once a week, when there is water that is only cold. And when Philip complains the guard tells him: ‘Welcome to Romania’. There is no trace of respect for human dignity.” The mother is very worried: “I hear from Filippo every day and it’s heartbreaking, I can’t be there to protect him, he’s desperate, I’m anxious. He’s in there and I’m in there with him, it’s indescribable. I hope someone can help us. I am not asking for my son to be freed, but for him to be guaranteed a fair trial and civil conditions.”
Appeal similar to that of Bernardini, who asks for intervention from the Embassy to facilitate the adoption of alternative detention measuresas already expressed by Amnesty International Italy for the Salis case: “These are countries that are part of the European Union, there are sometimes emergencies that require immediate intervention: if extradition creates problems or takes too long, we make sure who can have home detention. The embassy can intervene. They must act quickly, it’s about asserting the principles that exist, and defending people who should be innocent until a final sentence is reached.” And regarding the images released yesterday of Ilaria Salis, brought in chains to court, she comments: “They are gruesome images, which we thought were confined to other times in the history of humanity.” “There is no protection for these people who live in conditions that are anything but inhuman and degrading,” denounces Berdardini.