Journalist killed in the Salerno area; a 26-year-old Tunisian man has confessed. Salvini: he should be in prison in his own country

The 26-year-old Tunisian man arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Luigi Esposito. ‘Once the suspect had been tracked down and taken to the offices of the Investigative Unit of the Salerno Provincial Carabinieri Command, decided to recount the events and, during an interrogation conducted by the public prosecutor – who had been coordinating the investigation from the outset – in the presence of his defence lawyer, made a full confession explaining the reasons behind his actions,” a statement explained. The suspect was then taken to Salerno prison pending the validation of his arrest by the judge for preliminary investigations.

The Tunisian man had previously been identified for squatting in an abandoned farmhouse. The Carabinieri had a photograph of him and, thanks to a complex satellite-based location operation, it was established that he was in the Cioffi area. After two days of searches, carried out with the assistance of the Cacciatori Puglia Helicopter Squadron, the Tunisian man was located. He initially attempted to flee but, realising he was surrounded, barricaded himself inside the building until he was apprehended by the Carabinieri. During a search of the building where he was hiding, the Carabinieri found the victim’s mobile phone and an electronic payment card.

Esposito and the Tunisian man – according to investigators’ reconstruction of events – had known each other for some time and had also spoken on the phone and then met up on Saturday. It was during that very meeting that a heated argument reportedly broke out for various reasons, and the young man is said to have then struck Esposito violently and repeatedly, causing fractures to various parts of his body. He then set him alight using plastic, a blanket and various bits of brushwood. As the post-mortem revealed, Esposito was, unfortunately, not yet dead at that point.

“Thank you to the police for the swift arrest of this murderer. Now let him go to prison in his own country, not here at the expense of Italians.” So said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Matteo Salvini, commenting on the arrest in connection with the murder in Eboli in a post on X, which reads: “A breakthrough in the investigation. The murderer of journalist Luca Esposito is an illegal Tunisian immigrant. The man was hiding in an abandoned farmhouse.”

“It is now a matter of urgency,” writes Salvini, “that, as the Lega has been proposing for some time, thousands of soldiers be deployed to protect our cities. No decent person can be afraid of seeing men and women in uniform everywhere.”