The wife and mother-in-law of Italian
MP Aboubakar Soumahoro, a migrant labour activist and Italy's
only current black MP, were put under house arrest on Monday,
with the finance police executing a warrant issued by a judge in
the city of Latina.
The case regards alleged wrongdoing in the management of
cooperatives dealing with migrants and unaccompanied minors in
the province of Latina, which is south of Rome.
The wife, Liliane Murekatete, and her mother, Marie Therede
Mukamatsindo, are among six people to have been investigated for
tax offences in relation to the Karibu and Consorzio Aid
cooperatives in the province of Latina.
The case has severely embarrassed Soumahoro, an
anti-gangmastering campaigner with Ivorian roots, prompting his
self-suspension from his Green-Left party last year.
The 43-year-old left the group completely in January.
Soumahoro became Italy's only black MP at last year's general
election where he was 'parachuted' into a safe Green-Left seat
at Modena in Emilia-Romagna.
He turned up for the first parliamentary session in muddy
wellies to highlight the continued plight of the labourers whose
rights he has been defending against gangmasters and other forms
of exploitation for over a decade.
Soumahoro came under fire for defending Murekatete after
pictures of her wearing designer clothes and accessories came
out, saying she enjoyed "the right to fashion".
The MP subsequently said he had been "misinterpreted" by people
mocking him for that remark, arguing that "everyone should be
entitled to dress as they see fit".
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