From our correspondent
REGGIO NELL’EMILIA «I decided to talk about telling the whole truth». This is how the statement of the 18-year-old brother of Saman Abbas, the young woman of Pakistani origin murdered by the Islamic family, begins. who did not accept his freedoms. The child speaks protected by a large black sign. Next to him is the lawyer who assists him, Valeria Mari. He is visibly excited. To the initial questions, all of them related to the use of the mobile phones that she has, about numbers, about availability, he always answers “I don’t remember.” Her father Shabbar, he said, had threatened him, ordering him to show the conversations between her and her boyfriend, which the sixteen-year-old had recorded: “He told me: show me these messages, otherwise I will hang up on you.” face down in the greenhouses,” said the young man. “I’m always afraid of my dad,” he added later. Then Samán went to the bathroom and when he came out there was an argument between the family and the 18-year-old, who wanted to leave. “He wanted to make his own life,” the boy said. “While I was in the bathroom my father called someone, I don’t know who. I heard something like ‘be careful with the cameras.’
“My father told me not to talk, that’s why I told lies”
In the classroom, while the child is talking, His father Shabbar Abbas, cousins and uncle Danish Hasnain are also present. In previous statements, considered unusable, the boy accused his family. The face of the witness, who recently turned 18, is shown on screens to one side of the trial courtroom. When in the past he claimed that his cousins had nothing to do with it, “I told a lie because my father told me so,” “He told me not to say anything.” Saman’s brother thus responded, in the criminal court of Reggio-Emilia, to the questions of the lawyer of the accused Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq, his cousin. “When I was a child I was afraid of my father and my uncle,” he added. «When I went to the other judge – he continued – I said that they did nothing, my father forced me». When did it happen? “I don’t remember. But before and after they called me and told me not to say anything about the cousins.”
“I told the police where they could bury her”
And again: «While they were making the plans I was on the stairs listening, not all but almost. I once heard my father talk about “digging.”». Who made the plans? “Noman, dad, mom and two more, Danish and Ikram.” Where was Saman when you heard this? “I don’t remember, I’m confused.” The meeting lasted “about half an hour.” In addition to “digging,” the young man said he also remembers hearing “going on behind the scenes.” I told the police where they could bury Saman. when we went to Novellara to look for the body. Nobody told me (Nomanulhaq Nomanulhaq, ed“”I asked Noman where she was because I wanted to hug her one last time, I also asked Uncle Danish,” he continued. “Why didn’t you tell the police this before?” the lawyer asks. «Because I didn’t know exactly where I was underground and always out of fear of my father.». The child’s examination is characterized by many “I don’t remember.”
Tears in the classroom
During the hearing, Saman’s brother cried in the courtroom: “I feel very bad” and after a few hours of testimony I was crying. “This is understandable, but it all comes into play in your testimony, we gave you the legal warnings,” she explained. President of the Court Cristina Beretti, asking the child if he or she intends to go ahead and respond. After further consideration, the young man agreed to continue with the hearing.
«No one told me that Saman had been buried»
Had anyone told him that Saman had been buried? “Yeah”. And who told you? «No one, I asked him, because I wanted to hug my sister. But I also asked my uncle before leaving for Imperia.” This is the response of his brother, who referred to his cousin, Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq and Danish uncle Hasnain. In the days following the disappearance of the girl, in May 2021, the young man went to Liguria, together with his uncle, but was detained for a check and transferred to a community for minors (he was sixteen years old at the time). . Instead, the uncle left Italy and was later located, months later, in France. And why, Nomanhulaq’s lawyer asked, did he not talk about this in the interrogations of the prosecutor and the police? «Because they didn’t tell me exactly where it was, only that it was underground. And always because of my dad, I was afraid of him.” The hearing continues, with continuous requests on the statements previously made by the young witness, before the investigators and then before the judge in an evidentiary incident, between May and June 2021. To facilitate the understanding of the questions, the parties address the young Pakistani with the “you”.
