Italy to raise penalties for smugglers after migrant tragedy
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has announced a crackdown on people smugglers, from a southern town near where a boat crowded with migrants broke apart, killing scores of people
ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni unveiled her right-wing government's plans to crack down on people smugglers following a Cabinet meeting she led Thursday in the southern town near the beach where a wooden boat packed with migrants broke apart 11 days earlier, killing scores and leaving many missing.
By holding the meeting in Cutro, Calabria, instead of the capital, Rome, Meloni said she was stressing her resolve to “combat the slavery of the Third Millennium.”
She announced that her Cabinet had approved a decree establishing a new crime — people smuggling that results in death of migrants — punishable by up to 30 years in prison, an exceptionally stiff sentence for crimes involving facilitating illegal immigration.
According to details of the approved decrees, provided by Meloni's office Thursday night, the punishment for the death of a sole migrant could bring up to 24 years in prison.
