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Rabat – Abderrahim Fakir’s family lawyer Fabio Anselmo said the EU Human Rights Court has already condemned Italy in a similar case involving the killing of a man following police brutality t in Florence in 2014.
Anselmo made his remarks in a conference on July 21 in the Italian Senate. The conference took place at the initiative of Senator Ilaria Cucchi, whose brother Stefano also died in police custody in 2009.
Anselmo, according to Al Jazeera, is representing Fakir’s family in their legal battle after two police officers killed Abderrahim Fakir, a 43-year-old Moroccan man killed in cold blood during a brutal police intervention in Bologna last Sunday.
A resident documented the violent handling of Fakir after police responded to a call from a local reporting that a man was allegedly behaving “agitatedly.”
A six-minute video shows the moment two police officers were pinning Fakir on the ground with his face down and restraining him with zip ties while he was crying for help and urging them to stop.
Four paramedics were standing still while the man, whose ankles were also secured with a plastic zip tie, was crying for help.
“I ask you to listen very carefully to that video,” Anselmo said on July 21, accusing paramedics of making no efforts to help him.
“When the officers stand up, Fakir may still be alive… Yet no one attempts to help him. No one removes the restraints,” the lawyer said.
He added that he spent almost 30 years dealing with similar cases, noting that the EU Court of Human Rights already condemned Italy for a similar case.
The case dates back to the January 2026 ruling by the court in the case of Riccardo Magherini.
Police restrained him face down, which caused his killing in Florence in 2014.
According to Al Jazeera, the court ruled that Italy violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
An investigation is ongoing, with Morocco urging a transparent process to reveal the cause of Fakir’s death.
On Tuesday, Morocco called on Italy to carry out a full investigation into the death of Fakir. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it wants all the circumstances surrounding the case to be established, urging the relevant authorities to speed up a comprehensive investigation into the case and provide the necessary explanations about what happened.
Morocco aims for the investigation to determine responsibilities and ensure that all legal procedures are fully applied.
The ministry said it will continue to closely monitor the case as part of its commitment to protecting the interests of Moroccans living abroad.
