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An Eritrean wrongly accused of being the hub of an identity treachery in a mistaken identity case got political asylum in Italy and was released, said his lawyer at AFP on Saturday.
Joiner Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe was arrested in Sudan in 2016 on suspicion of being at the heart of one of the largest migrant trafficking networks in the world.
He was accused of being Medhanie Yehdego Mered, nicknamed "the General", and extradited to Italy. After a 21-month trial, a Palermo court ruled that the police had the wrong man.
The court ordered that he be immediately released, but he was instead taken to a detention center from where he was to be deported.
His lawyer, Michele Calantropo, immediately filed an application for political asylum, which was accepted Friday, and Berhe was free to leave.
His lawyer said the last three years had been a "nightmare" for his client.
At the time of his arrest, Italy, Sudan and Britain hailed his capture as the brilliant result of a joint operation that had dealt a heavy blow to the smugglers' business.
Despite the differences in appearance between the two men and DNA evidence in support of Berhe's case, Italian prosecutors have maintained their weapons throughout their trial and called for a 14-year sentence. 39; imprisonment.
In 2017, the "general" himself told a New York investigative journalist that the Italians had the wrong man.
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