An investigation by the Italian police has led to the arrest of five people, three Bangladeshi nationals and two Sudanese, on charges of torture in Libyan detention centers of migrants that disembarked on the Italian island of Lampedusa on December 26 with them.
Some of the victims are said to still have visible scars on their body from the torture. Most had been beaten with sticks and whipped with belts, including to their heads, in the Libyan detention centers.
Five alleged jailers, three Bangladeshi nationals and two Sudanese who disembarked on the Italian island of Lampedusa on December 6 with the migrants they are accused of kidnapping and torturing, were arrested on January 24.
They are accused of criminal association, aiding and abetting unauthorised immigration, torture and kidnapping for extortion.
Migrants reported them
The inquiry was conducted by investigators from the mobile squads of the Agrigento and Palermo police.
The arrests were conducted by the Palermo branch of Italy's Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DDA) on January 24 and signed by the Agrigento preliminary investigative judge on Friday.
A number of migrants, mostly Bangladeshi nationals, reported the violence suffered in Libyan "safe houses" in which they were kept prior to their departure for Sicily.
The investigation was set in motion by the police after two boats of migrants disembarked on Lampedusa on December 26.
At the time, information was gathered on human trafficking -- mostly for refugees of Bangladeshi origins -- from the Libyan coasts to Italy.
'Criminal network of an international nature'
The investigation made it possible to ascertain that the victims of human trafficking, after paying the required amounts in their countries of origin for the journey to Libya, were detained in "centers" until more money was paid for the journey onwards and the arrival in Italy.
The investigations, underscored the Palermo DDA, "found a criminal network of an international nature".
This is not the first time that torture and kidnappings for extortion in Libyan detention centers have been reported by people who - after paying the amounts requested for their journey to Italy - ended up detained while waiting to be put on a boat headed for the Sicilian coasts.
In the past, the Agrigento police also documented with photos and videos the conditions of migrants that had been burned, injured and scarred over their entire body.
Previous probes had found that migrants locked in Libyan "safe houses" were tortured while on the phone with their relatives to persuade the latter to send the amount of money demanded.