Italian politician sparks controversy with asylum-seeker rape remarks

Trieste (Italy), May 12 (IANS/AKI) The centre-left Governor of Italy's northeast Friuli-Venezia Giulia region has sparked controversy with comments suggesting that rape committed by an asylum-seeker was "more unacceptable".

"Sexual violence is always a hateful and disgusting act but it is even more unacceptable socially and morally when committed by someone who seeks and obtains shelter in our country," Deborah Serracchiani wrote in a statement on the region's website.

"In such cases, I can understand why people can want to reject individuals who commit such sordid crimes," he continued on the May 10 statement, which has been trending on social media in Italy.

Serracchiani, who is from the Democratic Party, went on to say she believed that refugees convicted of crimes like rape should be tried, jailed and expelled from Italy once they served their sentences.

The Governor's comments came after the attempted rape of a nine-year-old girl in Trieste on Sunday by an Iraqi asylum-seeker and unleashed a critical backlash on Twitter.

Twitter users accused Serracchiani of creating "First Division and Second Division" rape and of bowing to Italy's populist anti-immigrant Northern League party.

"According to Serracchiani, the gravity of the sexual violence depends on the perpetrator's nationality. This is unacceptable," read a tweet from Stefy.

"Serracchiani is giving the nod to the Northern League electorate and losing those few voters who still thought the Democratic Party was leftwing," tweeted Francesco.

--IANS/AKI

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