The Minister for Relations with the Italian Parliament, Federico Dinkah, said in a parliamentary briefing in front of the House of Representatives on Wednesday that they have not yet received any confirmation about the leaks reported by the newspapers regarding alleged requests to exchange Italian fishermen detained in Libya with four Libyan citizens who were finally sentenced in Italy.
He stressed that these allegations have not been formalized in any way.
The Sicilian MP in the Italian Parliament, Irazmo Palazzotto, had written in a previous memo submitted to Parliament that “some newspapers refer to a proposal by the authorities in eastern Libya to conduct a prisoner exchange, to release four Libyans arrested in Italy, serving a 30-year prison sentence according to a court ruling. Catania’s appeal, as they have been proven responsible for the so-called mid-August massacre, which killed 49 immigrants in 2015.
The Libyan authorities have detained 18 Italian fishermen, off the Libyan coast. After entering Libyan territorial waters without prior permission. The Italian government affirmed its commitment to finding a positive solution to the issue of the detained fishermen, after receiving some members of the families of Italian fishermen at the Prime Ministry headquarters in the capital, Rome.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, stressed that his country’s government does not accept any blackmail about its citizens, who should return to the homeland, and spoke about the need for full coordination in this issue because it requires action with great caution.
