As of early March of this year, 158 Ukrainian citizens were being held in prisons in southern Italy following their detention on suspicion of transporting illegal migrants or convicted of such committing crimes.
This was reported by the Liga publication, which cited the Deutsche Welle publication, which obtained the information from the consular services department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The report states that 131 out of these 158 Ukrainian citizens have been convicted and are already serving their sentences while 27 are being held in custody.
According to the report, 161 Ukrainian citizens were arrested in southern Italy in the period of 2015-2018 on suspicion of transporting illegal migrants. In 2019, 32 Ukrainian citizens were detained there and 18 were released. Since the beginning of 2020, one Ukrainian sailor has detained in Italy.
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry, the ministry is constantly monitoring the situation to ensure that the rights of Ukrainian sailors detained or convicted of transporting illegal migrants are being protected.
