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SEX

Italian priest ‘preyed on asylum seekers for sex’

Prosecutors in Sicily are seeking a 10-year prison term for a priest who allegedly extorted sex from asylum seekers in return for helping them to obtain residency permits.

Published: 20 October 2015 12:38 CEST
Italian priest 'preyed on asylum seekers for sex'
Migrants arriving in Trapani earlier this year. Photo: Marcello Paternostro/AFP

Father Sergio Librizzi, who was arrested in June last year on aggravated sexual assault charges, allegedly preyed on asylum seekers staying at centres in the Trapani area, LiveSicilia reported.

He had been working on a committee which handled asylum claims when the alleged assaults took place. At the time of his arrest, investigators found a box containing some €10,000, which is thought to have been used as “offerings” to entice asylum seekers.

A former director at the Trapani branch of the Catholic charity, Caritas, Librizzi is also being probed in connection with separate charges related to the management of the centres, Ansa reported.

The next hearing is scheduled on October 22nd. The port city of Trapani is one of the main migrant arrival points in Sicily. 
 

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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