Meloni government had claimed case showed why officers using weapons in self-defence needed more protection
The arrest of an Italian police officer on suspicion of murder over the fatal shooting of a Moroccan man has prompted a row after the opposition accused Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government of exploiting the case for political ends.
Abderrahim Mansouri, 28, was shot in the head by Carmelo Cinturrino, assistant chief of Mecenate police station, during a police drugs patrol in the Rogoredo area of Milan in late January. Cinturrino originally said he had acted in self-defence after Mansouri pulled a gun on him.
The case was cited by the government as an example of why a proposed law aimed at giving more protection to police officers using weapons in self-defence should be swiftly passed.
But prosecutors in Milan said Cinturrino’s version of events had been contradicted by witnesses, who said Mansouri had not been holding any weapon during the incident and had been shot as he tried to escape. Prosecutors allege that a gun found at the scene – which fired only blanks – was planted there by Cinturrino to support his story.
