«In prison they call me a child murderer, but that night I saved 5 people. I I came to Italy for a future and I find myself in prison only because I speak the Turkish language and acted as an interpreter. Please give me justice».
Khalid Arslan26-year-old Pakistani, one of the three defendants in the trial against the alleged smugglers of the gulet that sank in Cutro on 26 February 2023, speaks in tears before the Court of Crotone after hearing the request for a sentence of 14 years and 6 months made by the prosecutor Easter Feast.
«I didn’t drive that boat, I didn’t run away like the real smugglers did: if I was a smuggler I wouldn’t stay. I threw myself into the water to save people” Arslan explained as he delivered a handwritten letter to the President of the Court in which, in Italian, he retraces his story.
«Some migrants were arguing with each other because they wanted to get on the boat. The smugglers asked who spoke the Turkish language. The other migrants pointed to me and asked to help them. Other migrants argued with me if I didn’t interpret. All the Afghans called me. If I didn’t interpret there was the risk of starting a fight and everyone dying at sea. But I didn’t know that being an interpreter could cost me this much, that it could cost me 14 years in prison. Let me understand: is helping weak people a crime of aiding and abetting? I was wrong to do this: if now I see someone dying in front of me you can rest assured that I will pretend to be blind, deaf and dumb.” The 26-year-old Pakistani reiterated that he paid 7,000 euros for the trip. «There are videos that prove that I traveled as a passenger and did not drive. When I was near the helm it was blocked and everyone took videos there. If I was a smuggler I didn’t make videos, I didn’t post them on tik tok. at that moment I was proud, happy that we had arrived in Italy.”