“Fabio and Filippo Galassi are in good health and are returning to Italy,” Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano said today. The Italian father and son were released yesterday after being imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea since March 2015.
Last week, Minister Alfano wrote a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Equatorial Guinea strongly hoping for a merciful act towards the two. Thanks to the personal commitment of the minister, and a constant political and diplomatic effort by Italy and Equatorial Guinea, the pair are free and will return to their family in the next few hours.
For the last three years, the two Italians had been helped by the Italian embassy in Yaoundé, which also has jurisdiction in Malabo, and the Farnesina. They intervened at the highest institutional levels of Equatorial Guinea and asked for mercy for humanitarian reasons, in the spirit of friendship and cooperation that traditionally characterises the relationship between the two countries. This has also been strengthened recently by the arrival of the new accredited Italian Ambassador for the African country.
Minister Alfano, commenting on the release of the two, said: “I take this opportunity to highlight the excellent job that the Directorate General for Italian Citizens Abroad carries out every day, also through the diplomatic and consular network, to help our compatriots that are facing difficulties outside our country.”
