Iranian activist Maysoon Majidi, interrogated for 10 hours, reiterates: “I am innocent” and also provides information on the traffickers who travel the Aegean route
CROTONE – «I am innocent». Maysoon Majidi, the 28-year-old Iranian activist arrested last December on charges of being a smuggler, after having disembarked with 76 other migrants in Crotone. The interrogation was conducted by prosecutor Rosaria Multari in the presence of the suspect’s defender, the lawyer Giancarlo Liberati. «I must acknowledge – said the lawyer – that the prosecutor listened carefully to my client and that she made her feel at ease with her, behaving with grace, allowing her to tell her version of her facts. The suspect – added the lawyer Liberati – clarified all the steps of the story but also provided elements that could allow us to trace the real organizers of the trafficking, responsible not only for the journey of hope with which Maysoon arrived in Crotone but also of many others.”
The lawyer announced a precautionary appeal against the decision with which the investigating judge Elisa Marchetto, deeming the danger of escape to exist, had rejected the defense request to replace the precautionary measure in prison with one at home in a house made available by the Sabir association . “We’re not asking for the moon,” the lawyer observed. Especially since the woman lost 13 kilos in prison.
Prosecutor Multari opposed the request for house arrest because Maijidi had reported, immediately after his arrest, an attempt to reach Germany.
However, the lawyer had explained, in his detailed statement, that the reason why Majidi had left with four other people, including a brother, on board a tender was to reach Germany but to more easily obtain the status as a refugee, having already formalized the asylum request through the UNHCR, the UN agency that assists those fleeing wars and persecution. A version confirmed by the co-suspect Akturk Ufuk who, during an interrogation, admitted to having been the “captain” of the boat and “exonerated” the woman by stating that she was a migrant like the other passengers and that she did not never helped in managing the crossing.
The defender’s repeated request for questioning had so far been inexplicably ignored. The woman therefore claims to be able to provide investigators with the organizational chart of a transnational gang of Iranian and Iraqi origin that has been sailing the Aegean route for years. Lawyer Liberati observes that Majidi has provided “useful circumstances worthy of further investigation”. «My client – the lawyer told the newspaper – suffers from being identified as a smuggler, because she fights for human rights. The word smuggler is associated with those who, instead, profit from human trafficking. Maysoon – concluded the lawyer Liberati – also explained this during the interrogation”.
