Maurizio Cocco acquitted: "Now I'll just try to forget. But it won't be easy."

"Now I'll just try to forget. But it won't be easy." Maurizio Cocco, the Italian engineer who spent three years in the Abijan concentration camp , has been acquitted. This morning , his appeal was accepted on the only remaining charge, after the initial charges of criminal conspiracy and tax fraud.

Innocent . Maurizio Cocco, the Italian engineer detained for three years in the hellish Abidjan prison in Ivory Coast, has been acquitted of all charges . At this morning's appeal hearing, his appeal against the only remaining charge, tax fraud, was upheld.

The Fiuggi businessman had immediately declared himself innocent. But no one believed him. Arrested with a gang of drug traffickers, he had been charged not only with drug trafficking but also with criminal conspiracy. Acquitted immediately of those charges, he remained in pre-trial detention until two weeks ago, when he posted a €150,000 bail (initially set at €1.5 million). The bail was raised only thanks to the solidarity of many, especially his family. In particular, that of his wife, Assunta Giorgilli, who, upon hearing the news of his arrest, had joined him in the Ivory Coast and, trying to "proclaim his innocence to the world," had also been charged with the same crime. She too was acquitted. "Now the Ivorian justice system has recognized that Maurizio Cocco is innocent. "- commented his lawyer Mario Cicchetti - There remains the bitterness of an unjust detention during which a good person was left alone, despite repeated requests for help. And we will hold our State accountable for this."