Milan, April 21, (dpa/GNA) - Imprisoned Italian anarchist Alfredo Cospito has broken a nearly 6-month long hunger strike in protest against his exceptionally harsh prison conditions, he said on Wednesday evening.
He also declared through his lawyers that he would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, ANSA news agency reported. Cospito had been deprived of several rights, they said.
Cospito has been on hunger strike since October as he is being held under highly restrictive conditions usually reserved for Mafia members, drug traffickers, terrorists and other categories of serious offender.
Cospito was sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges after carrying out a bombing in 2006 and shooting a manager in 2012.
His case has long been the subject of controversy in Italy.
Cospito’s lawyers have so far failed in their appeals against their client’s treatment in Italian courts.
According to his lawyers, the 55-year-old had serious health problems because of the hunger strike. For this reason he was transferred to a hospital in Milan.
Sympathizers of the man had protested repeatedly in the past weeks. Walls and buildings were covered in graffiti in many places. Arson attacks, for example against parked diplomatic cars, were also attributed to anarchist groups.
GNA