The arrest of a 32-year-old Italian was validated by the courts on Monday 1er August, when he is accused of beating a Nigerian street vendor to death on Friday. According to the italian newspaper Corriere della serrawho quotes his lawyer, the suspect, who had been immediately identified and arrested, “cooperated, apologized and clarified there was no racial motivation”.
On Friday, a 39-year-old Nigerian, Alika Ogorchukwu, was beaten to death in the early afternoon in the center of Civitanova Marche, a tourist town in the Marche region, on the Adriatic coast in Italy. According to the police, the suspect attacked the street vendor after the latter tried to sell him and his girlfriend with “insistence” handkerchiefs, before asking them ” currency “.
The Nigerian, disabled and equipped with a crutch, “came to us and asked us for money, he took me by the arm”has explained the suspect’s friend to the Italian press. According to her, she quickly freed herself from his grip, the seller’s behavior being neither pushy nor harassing. The couple head to a nearby clothing store, the suspect preferring to wait outside, says the 45-year-old woman.
A racist crime and indifference?
According to footage of the attack circulating on social media and in the media, the suspect rushed at Mr. Ogorchukwu, grabbed his crutch, punched him in the face, then raged at him, with bare hands, while “four minutes of horror”according to Corriere della Serra. An autopsy is to be conducted Tuesday to determine the exact cause of death.
Beyond the fatal attack, it was also the indifference in which it took place that shocked Italy. The assault took place in the middle of the day, in a tourist town, and images exist, proof that passers-by witnessed the scene. The Italian newspaper specifies, however, that there was a priori no crowd at that time. According to Corrierefour people were at the scene of the attack: a tourist who filmed the scene in its entirety, two elderly people and an Italian employee who called for help and asked the attacker to stop.
This lack of reaction was quickly put, in the Italian media, on the account of racism. On Sunday, Italy’s former interior minister and leader of the far-right Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, said that his opponents from the center and the left instrumentalized the death of the Nigerian ” [l’]accusing, [ainsi que] the League and millions of Italians, to be racist. Despicable ». The suspect himself defended himself from any racist motivation, his counsel demanding a psychiatric expertise supposed to demonstrate, according to him, a “inability to understand and to want” of his client.
The region ruled since 2020 by a far-right party
Mr. Ogorchukwu’s family lawyer said he would oppose the request. “If the inability to understand and to will is alleged, then it should be clarified whether everything was done to avoid what happened. I wonder if [sa] mother, who is [sa] guardian, lives in Salerno, how can she watch him daily (…) ? It will be necessary to know all the responsibilities. »
The attack unfolded as Italian politicians begin campaigning for early parliamentary elections on September 25. Mr. Salvini has made immigration and security his main campaign themes. The Marche region has been led since 2020 by Francesco Acquaroli, a member of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and who got his start in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) party.
The archbishop of the diocese of Civitanova Marche announced that a tribute would be paid to the street vendor during Sunday masses. The mayor of San Severino Marche, where Mr Ogorchukwu, his wife and a niece lived, meanwhile said the city would pay for the funeral. A fundraiser is also organized by residents to help his widow.