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On December 18, 2018, Egidio Tiraborrelli, 81 years old, is taken from the small council housing where he lives, to be brought to the prison in Parma. At the time of his arrest, Egidio learns that, on November 2, 2016, the criminal section of the Court of Ancona sentenced him – in absentia and with a final sentence – to three years and six months in prison for “aiding and abetting illegal immigration”, a “crime” that he allegedly committed in 2012. Although the judges recognise mitigating circumstances, they impose a prison sentence on him, in addition to a fine of ten thousand euros. Moreover, despite being of advanced age and in an increasingly serious state of health, Egidio remains in prison for almost nine months, in very difficult conditions. Five months after his imprisonment, a lawyer from Parma applies for alternative measures, obtaining only the possibility of temporary hospitalization. During one of these, Egidio became worse, perhaps due to a nosocomial infection, and died on September 6, 2019. His story illustrates, in a tragically exemplary way, the fact that justice is still a class justice, which tends to show its most severe face towards the poorest and most vulnerable. At the heart of this story, there is the so-called “crime of aiding and abetting illegal immigration”, “thanks” to which, even the most obvious and spontaneous acts of solidarity can fall under the axe of repression, even the most brutal. To know the details of the Egidio’s affair, download the contribution below.
