Mimmo Lucano, a pro-migrant activist and former mayor of Italian town Riace, has been banned from returning to his town. A petition is calling for that ban to be lifted so he can visit his sick father.
The petition gathered 23,000 signatures in just 24 hours after it was launched on Monday. As of Thursday afternoon, it had been signed more than 64,000 times. The petition was started by the group "June 11 Committee." They want former Riace mayor Mimmo Lucano to be able to return to his town to visit his ill father.
The petition has gained a lot of attention online, it even became a trending topic on Italian Twitter. Famous supporters helped the initiative gain steam, including author Roberto Saviano, journalist Laura Boldrini, writer Michela Murgia, and Nicola Zingaretti, the head of the opposition party DP.
"Mimmo Lucano has the right to return to Riace to embrace for the last time his elderly father, who is ill and dying
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not out of pity, but because this is the just thing to do," Saviano said.
Appeal to the president
Lucano was mayor of Riace, a small town in southern Italy, for nine years, but is currently unable to return due to judicial orders.
The petition's organisers are appealing directly to Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
They were surprised at the widespread response. "We didn't expect such a fast response, with such big results," one of the organisers said. "This case is a strong argument for showing how much the country cares about this injustice. Our goal is to get the restriction measure revoked, giving back a right that was taken away from Lucano. There's no juridical reason this right should be taken from Lucano, while his father is in serious condition in hospital," the organiser said.
The last time Lucano was in Riace was a few months ago. On May 24, he was allowed to participate in a final meeting of the list for which he was a candidate for city hall. A few days later he was also allowed to return exclusively to vote.
Banned from Riace since October 2018
Lucano was forced to leave Riace on October 17 of last year because the Reggio Calabria Court of Reexamination banned him from the town.
Previously, Lucano had been under house arrest since October 2. The expulsion from Riace replaced the house arrest.
Lucano had been placed under house arrest due to an investigation by the Locri prosecutor's office over alleged irregularities in how the mayor managed migrant welcoming and accommodation activities.