Hat tip Gates of Vienna
Pre-Trial detention order not translated into French
If you think the US is the only country with a wacko judiciary, think again. In Italy, an accused rapist from Mali has been released from custody because.....
The order for pre-trial detention was not translated into French!
The below article from today's Il Giornale is translated (into English) by Fousesquawk.
Judicial news-Procedural error
-Giovanni Fiorentino
April 10, 2026 at 13:18
"The order had not been translated into French". And the foreigner accused of having raped an elderly lady is free again.
The court of review has ordered the release of the 22-year-old from Mali, accused of having robbed and raped a 74-year-old woman in Pistoia, as the order of preventive custody had not been translated into the language of the defendant.
The order of preventive custody in jail issued by the judge of preliminary instruction of the Pistoia Tribunal last July was not translated into French, the language of the defendant. And for this reason, the Tribune of Review has ordered the release of the 22-year-old from Mali, accused of having robbed and raped a 74-year-old woman. This is the surreal story out of Toscana.
It all began last summer in the Pistoia capital when the elderly woman was approached by the young (non-EU) foreigner who asked her for some change. But under this excuse, he first forced her to suffer violence in the entrance hall of the building in which the woman was living, and then she was allegedly forced into her home, where he further abused her before the daughter arrived. The foreigner then fled before being tracked down two days after the incident at the Florence train station and arrested. The trial, according to the daily newspaper, Il Tirreno, began in the past few days. However, after the request by the defense, the Court of Cassation issued a new ruling to the Review Court, having found a procedural error.
"We are all shocked and frightened," the daughter of the elderly woman told La Nazione. "It is as if he were released and we are all put in prison, all of our family. We no longer feel free to leave the house, and we fear revenge, also because this young man is an unstable person, and it is not the first time he has attacked someone. He knows where we live. In effect, our lives are on hold. My mother has testified against him and identified him as her attacker. She cannot live cooped up at home because she is a very active and busy person. She is a professional and goes to Florence every day."
He could find her in front of a train or on the street. This young man is homeless, he lives on the street, and he isn't even wearing an electronic bracelet. How is it possible that nobody thought of us?"
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Fousesquawk comment: Coming from a law enforcement background and having spent 5 years working with Italian police and prosecutors in the 1980s, of course, any person arrested must have translation services in their native language That is the law in the US as well as the members of the European Union. However, given the seriousness of the offense, is there no other remedy than putting this man back on the streets? If he is deemed mentally unstable, as the above article suggests, could he not have been placed in a secure psychiatric facility? What about detention for purposes of deportation-to be superceded by new charges? From reading other articles, it appears that the Italians still intend to restart the prosecutive process. I am guessing and hoping that this person is under some sort of police surveillance until such time as he can be rearrested.
At any rate, it is just another example of how we in the West are failing to protect our own citizens.




