Youssef Siher, a 30-year-old Italian researcher of Moroccan origin, has been released. He was arrested on Saturday evening as the administrator of the Telegram channel “Movimento 17 ottobre” (October 17 Movement), created after two days of looting and destruction in Milan. The decision was taken by judge Tiziana Landoni, who rejected the request for confirmation of the arrest and the application of the pre-trial detention measure proposed by prosecutor Francesca Crupi, who is leading the investigation together with prosecutor Marcello Viola.
Prosecutors have charged him and his wife, who is under investigation but free, with the criminal offense of incitement to commit crimes, with the aggravating circumstances of terrorism and organized violence during a public demonstration. The judge supported the defense arguments, presented by lawyers Benedetto Ciccarone and Yasmina Abu Sharar, who opposed the prosecution’s version and the need for detention.
REASONING OF THE COURT
In the content published in the Telegram group “Movimento 17 ottobre”, the investigating judge writes, Siher has expressed “forms of protest” against “current government policies”, as well as “calls for acts of ‘civil disobedience'”, but these do not “translate into violent or criminal behavior, but only into the organization of weekly demonstrations, designed to raise awareness and engage as many people as possible”.
MELONI: SHAMEFUL DECISION BY THE JUDGE
“A shameful decision.” This is the assessment of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, expressed unequivocally in a video posted on social media, where she comments on the Milan judge’s decision. “I believe this is an unacceptable insult to the work of the police, investigators, the Ministry of the Interior and, more broadly, to all those who try to protect honest citizens from the risk of destroying their cities and businesses,” said Meloni.
DEFENSE LINE
On October 27, Siher decided not to respond to Judge Landoni, convinced, according to the defense, that he had exercised the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and that he had never thought that the messages written and sent on Telegram would land him in prison on such serious charges. He insists that he has not committed any of the criminal offenses attributed to him, emphasizing that in the “Movimento 17 ottobre” chat he did not use violent language to incite rebellion against the established order or to promote a “war” against the Meloni government.