A man who hijacked and later torched
a school bus with 50 children, two teachers and a janitor aboard
near Milan in March 2019 on Wednesday got 24 years in jail for
attempted murder.
Ousseynou Sy, 47, was found guilty and given the term which
prosecutors had requested.
The crime was committed at San Donato Milanese.
Senegalese-Italian Sy was in full possession of his mental
faculties when he hijacked the bus, experts ruled recently.
Sy had told the court he is neither a killer nor a
terrorist despite his apparent attempt to kill the occupants of
his vehicle.
"I am neither a killer nor a terrorist and I hope justice
will be done also for us Africans", the defendant said in a
spontaneous statement to the court.
"I am also a son of Africa, the Africa that you know very
well, that has seen its sons deprived of human dignity, of any
right to serenity, of happiness, even today".
"As an Italian citizen and an African, I accuse"
(anti-immigration League leader Matteo) Salvini, (who was deputy
premier and interior minister at the time of the hijacking),
"and his government of crimes against humanity and genocide".
Sy argued that Salvini had condemned many migrants to death
and torture by blocking Italian ports to NGO run rescue ships.
Salvini says his hardline policy saved lives.
Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from
Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004, got off the
bus after it was stopped by police, who were alerted by students
on board.
He had just set it alight.
The Carabinieri managed to get the children out by smashing
windows at the back.
The two Egyptian boys who were hailed as heroes after phoning
the police when Sy was not looking have been granted Italian
citizenship.
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