Two Pakistanis were arrested, accused of having murdered four day laborers, three Afghans and one Pakistani, by setting fire to the car they were traveling in, in which they died burned to death in the Calabria region, in southern Italy, in a terrible event that has once again focused attention on the exploitation of migrants in the fields.
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One of the survivors, an Afghan who managed to escape by breaking the car window, stated in an interview on public television RAI that the Pakistanis set fire to the car because the day laborers were demanding money for their work. “They didn’t give us money, food yes, a house yes, but no money,” he said, adding that there is a “big mafia in Pakistan” and that they were forced to work in the fields.
The crime highlights the conditions in which thousands of migrant day laborers live and work in fields in southern Italy
The arrest of the two men occurred after a long interrogation at the Cosenza Police Station, where they were transferred on Monday night, after being intercepted in Villapiana, having been located thanks to the video surveillance system of the gas station where the homicide took place, which recorded all phases of the crime.
The images show two people blocking the doors from the outside with their arms, while presumably flammable liquid is thrown from the rear door, and then a flame appears and both flee. This brutal homicide has once again focused attention on the inhumane conditions in which thousands of migrant day laborers live and work in the fields of the center and south of the country.
“Enough of the dirty silence of convenience. Enough of that gray area that sees, knows, and lets things happen. Enough of the perverse habit of considering it normal for men from distant lands to harvest, work, live, sleep, travel, and die as bodies without history,” declared the vice-president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and Calabrian bishop, Francesco Savino.
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Unions described the crime as an “indescribable horror” and CGIL, the country’s largest union, called on politicians “to take more concrete measures to combat the abominations of daily life suffered by workers, often migrants, in our countryside.”
Meloni calls for clarification of the “terrible crime” and bringing those responsible to justice
Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, condemned the “horrific” murder this Wednesday and urged clarification of this case for which two people have already been arrested.
“The horrific murder of the four day laborers has shocked everyone (…) Italy does not back down from violence and barbarism: it is essential to fully clarify this terrible crime and bring all those responsible to justice,” she wrote on her social media.
Meloni also praised the “speed” of the investigators, which led to the first arrests, and extended her condolences to the victims’ families.
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