Bologna Prosecutors Probe 6 After 42-Year-Old Moroccan Dies in Police Restraint
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 18
Bologna Prosecutors Probe 6 After 42-Year-Old Moroccan Dies in Police Restraint
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 18
Summary
Two police officers and four healthcare workers are being investigated for involuntary manslaughter after Abderrahim Fakir, 42, died on a Bologna street while handcuffed and pinned down.
Video shared nationwide showed Fakir repeatedly begging for help before he stopped moving; an initial postmortem pointed to lung compression, though the cause of death is still being established.
The case is the first to invoke Italy’s new legal shield for public officials, meaning the six are not yet formal criminal suspects unless prosecutors find the restraint was unjustified.
Lawyers for the officers and medics deny wrongdoing and say protocol was followed, while Fakir’s family and their lawyer argue the shield risks impunity and undermines accountability.
Protests in Bologna and Rome have turned Fakir’s death into a wider test of Giorgia Meloni’s security agenda, immigration politics and police powers ahead of next year’s election.