Rome An Italian football hooligan has been arrested and charged with murder
after beating to death a Nigerian asylum seeker who reacted to racial insults
against his partner, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Thursday.
According
to the La Repubblica newspaper, Emmanuel Chidi Nnamdi, 36, got into a fight on
Tuesday after the man called his 24-year-old girlfriend Chinyere - referred to
only by her first name - a "monkey."
Nnamdi
was taken to hospital in a comatose state and declared dead on Wednesday in the
central Italian town of Fermo, some 170 kilometres northeast of Rome, near the
Adriatic coast.
The
accused, Amedeo Mancini, is a supporter of 4th league team Fermana and had been
banned from the local stadium because of his violent behaviour, ANSA news
agency reported.
The
incident led Alfano to travel to Fermo to chair a meeting with local police.
Before the talks, he told reporters it was a "day of infinite
sadness."
The
minister later said Mancini's actions were racially motivated, an aggravating
circumstance which could earn the accused a longer jail sentence, and that
Chinyere's asylum demand had been accepted.
"She
has been granted humanitarian protection status," Alfano said.
Italy's
highest authorities also weighed in on the case.
Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi wrote on Twitter that the government was committed to
fight "hatred, racism and violence," while President Sergio
Mattarella delegated Fermo's authorities to offer Chinyere "any kind of
required assistance."
"What
happened is shocking and deeply disturbs the principle of international
protection which, aside from the international obligation of states, should be
rooted in everybody's conscience," UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) executive
Stephane Jaquemet said in a statement.
Comunita
di Capodarco, the Catholic charity that was giving shelter to the couple,
issued a statement giving a version provided by Chinyere. She said the man put
his hands on her, triggering Nnamdi's reaction.
"A
fight broke out, a street sign was pulled from the pavement, there were heavy
blows and one, probably fatal, hit the young Nigerian on the back of the neck.
Once on the floor ... the young man was hit repeatedly," the Comunita
said.
The
couple left Nigeria to flee from the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, their
hosts said.
Chinyere travelled while pregnant, but fell ill during the sea crossing to Sicily and
lost her baby, probably as a result of beatings suffered in Libya, they added.
Father
Vinicio Albanesi, who leads the community that sheltered the couple, said the
people who attacked the asylum seekers were the same who earlier this year
planted unexploded bombs in front of four Catholic churches in Fermo. Alfano
said he could not confirm this.
DPA
