26 July 2001

Greens meet Italian ambassador over detained Kiwi

Green MPs Nandor Tanczos and Sue Bradford this afternoon met with the Italian Ambassador to discuss concerns over detained Kiwi journalist Sam Buchanan.

The meeting was prompted after the MPs were told by the Embassy that there were no records of either a New Zealander or a Sam Buchanan having been arrested or detained as a result of demonstrations at the Genoa G8 meeting.

"The Ambassador still has no record of either the arrest or detention of Sam Buchanan. Initially this was of some concern to us but having confirmed that the New Zealand Embassy has been in touch with him and having been in touch with Sam's family we are comfortable that this appears to be a slip-up," said Ms Bradford.

The Green MPs took the opportunity to discuss where Mr Buchanan would eventually be deported to, saying that as a resident of London he should be returned to his residence rather than New Zealand.

"The Ambassador told us that there are calls in the Italian Parliament for an inquiry into the policing of the Genoa demonstrations. There are also calls for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior. We were very concerned to hear that some of the police had been inexperienced conscripts - including the carbinieri that shot Carlo Giuliani," said Nandor.

"The other major concern that we talked about was the targetting of the independent media organisation 'indymedia' in the raid during which Sam was arrested. Any attempt to shut down independent sources of information is unacceptable," said Nandor.

ENDS

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