The daily life of Andrea Constantinos has turned into a thriller, a 49-year-old Italian who has been trapped in the Italian embassy in the United Arab Emirates for six months.
To be able to return to his country, he will have to pay the Arab emirate a 275,000 euro fine. Stating that he is in the middle of a diplomatic confrontation between the two states, he appeals to the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, to intervene to solve his problem and allow him to return home. In his message he explains that he sleeps every night in a small room allocated to him by the Italian embassy and that he only sleeps a few hours during the day and has nightmares every day.
He said he believes that his detention has something to do with a diplomatic confrontation, as he says that in his testimony he was constantly asked about Italy. After her election, Meloni claimed that the 49-year-old's detention was due to diplomatic tension between the two countries created by the previous government. The prime minister had asked her predecessor, Mario Draghi, to intervene to prevent the 49-year-old Italian from being held hostage. He says, however, that he has received no response to his pleas from the previous and the current government.
Constantino is an oil businessman; in 2021, he was arrested by police authorities on charges of financing terrorist organisations in Yemen after one of his own cargo ships carried oil to a client in the war-torn country. At the time, the 49-year-old, was jailed for a year at the maximum security prison, Al Wathba. Recall that Yemen, is at war with Saudi Arabia, having suffered several sanctions. One of the persons who was on the crew of the cargo ship was accused of having links with Houthi rebels.
The businessman, to be able to leave the country, must pay a fine of 275 thousand euros and have his passport released by the authorities.
Konstantinos is the father of two children, and his first son was severely bullied at school by classmates who made fun of him for his father being a terrorist.
During this adventure, he has lost all his businesses and, of course, all his property. He uses, he claims, his father's credit card to enable him to order food, "although most of the time I forget to eat," he stresses. His father, meanwhile, is trying to raise money for his son's release.
Source: Proto Thema
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