Domenico Porcelli was released from prison this morning after five years under 41 bis in the Bancali prison in Sassari . Yesterday afternoon, the Potenza Court of Appeal dropped the charge of mafia-style criminal association for the 49-year-old and all the co-defendants who were thus able to regain their freedom.
«In recent years», states Porcelli, supported by the lawyer Maria Teresa Pintus who defended him together with the lawyer Livia Lauria, «I have felt like a hostage of the State and of bad justice» . The man, originally from the Apulian municipality of Biritto, was sentenced by the Matera court in 2022 to 26 and a half years in prison for mafia-style criminal association. And he had been on hunger strike since February 28, 2023 in protest against his detention, during which time he lost more than 20kg.
"The strike is over but my battle will continue to go on, not so much against 41, but against the reasons why it is applied." Then he returns to the conditions of hard prison. « It's not living , I can only say that I don't wish anything like that on anyone. Now", he concludes, "I will try to take back my life and help those who don't have a voice like I haven't had in these years".