Riace ex mayor Lucano gets suspended sentence on appeal

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 11 - The former mayor of the Calabrian town of Riace, Mimmo Lucano, who earned fame for integrating migrants and repopulating the location according to the 'Riace Model', got a suspended sentence of one and a half years on appeal Wednesday as judges slashed his original term of over 13 years for irregularities involving immigrants.
    Domenico 'Mimmo' Lucano, 65, settled 450 refugees in Riace, a town of 1,800 inhabitants, revitalising it and preventing the closure of the local school.
    He came second in the 2010 World Mayor Competition and was named 40th in a Fortune poll of the world's greatest leaders in 2016.
    Lucano had initially been charged with arranging marriages for citizenship but that charge was struck down by the supreme Cassation Court.
    However, he was convicted by a first instance court of other charges of abuse of office and irregularities in managing migrants and asylum seekers.
    He was found guilty of criminal association, fraud, embezzlement, false statements and abuse of office.
    The appeals court struck down nearly all those charges.
    The former migrant-integration hero and mayor of the Calabrian experiment town had consistently claimed innocence. (ANSA).