MEmo Lucano, former mayor of Rias in Calabria and winner of the 2017 Dresden Peace Prize, appeared in a court in Lokry 13 years and two months ago on Thursday for aiding and promoting abuse of office, the formation of a criminal union and illegal immigration Were. Sentenced to prison for fraud, extortion and forgery of documents. With his decision, the judge went far beyond the prosecutor’s request, which sought nearly eight years in prison.

The judges saw it as proven that Lucano had built an internationally acclaimed model project of a culture hailed as a “ghost village” for financial enrichment and, above all, the political exploitation of migrants rather than their integration. For. Following the announcement of the verdict, Lucano and his lawyers spoke of an “unheard incident” and announced that they would appeal. Lucano’s legal representatives argued that the former mayor was “autologically incompetent” to enrich himself at the expense of others, if only for his own political gains.

Lucano, who was mayor of the small town on the Calabrian south coast from 2004 to 2018, provided abandoned homes of displaced residents to hundreds of migrants in the remote district of Rias Borgo, a mountainous region. Lucano and his supporters in Italy and around the world argued that the “dying village” was filled with new life. In 2010, Lucano came third in the “World Mayor” election for the best mayor in the world.

Lucano was arrested and placed under house arrest in October 2018. He was banned from living in the Rias after his detention was lifted. Lucano moved temporarily to Naples, where Mayor Luigi de Magistris supported him. In the 2019 local elections, Lucano’s attempt at a political comeback with the centre-left list “The Sky Over Rias” failed.