Italian Man Who was Deported from Kenya Last Month Sues the Government

An Italian national who was deported from Kenya last month has filed a suit against the government.

Alberto Marchesi was arrested, detained, and later deported after he landed at Moi International Airport (MIA) in Mombasa on October 29th.

Marchesi, who is the Italian President of Agriculture, says he had come to Kenya to deliver crucial medicine to his uncle Italo Ceccagnoti, who has been unwell for the past three years. The elderly man is said to have suffered a stroke in 2017 and depends on the drugs to live following an operation.

"Mr. Ceccagnoti suffered a stroke and was paralyzed, thus I started coming to Kenya on a monthly basis to bring him medicine and take care of him,” says Marchesi.

Marchesi has linked his arrest and deportation to the properties bequeathed to him by his uncle. Ceccagnoti, who has lived in Kenya for 25 years and owns several properties in Bamburi, gave his multi-million-shilling estate to Marchesi in a will dated September 30th, 2020. 

The foreigner has filed a case at the Mombasa High Court accusing the government of violating his rights, stating that his deportation was unprocedural. The case filed through the Commission for Human Rights and Justice has been certified as urgent, Daily Nation reported.

The Immigration officer in charge of MIA, the Director of Immigration and Registration of Persons, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, and Tourism CS Najib Balala have been listed as respondents in the case.

Marchesi in documents filed in court says he has been visiting the country since 1995 and has never been arrested.

“During my many visits and stay in the country, I have not engaged in any unlawful and illegal business. I am a law-abiding visitor and I have not contravened any laws and regulations,'' he says. 

He says he was arrested upon arrival at MIA from Italy and was put in police cells and his passport confiscated. Officers questioned why he had made several trips to and from Kenya and he explained that he had a sick uncle who needed medicine.

 “I was told I would be taken to court but this did not happen. I was moved from one immigration office to another and later taken back to the airport, where I was locked up again in cells and after two hours I was deported," he says.

“Actions of omission and commission by the immigration officers at MIA were unlawful and derogation of human rights and freedoms as encapsulated in Kenyan laws and other international charters on human rights and freedoms. I have never been charged with any known offense either under the Kenyan or Italian law,” he adds.

He wants the court to order Immigration authorities to grant him entry into the country and issue him with a visa for his entry and stay as a foreigner.
 
But Kipkoech Sang, an immigration officer in the investigation and prosecution section said Marchesi had been put on a ''watch list'' pursuant to intelligence reports provided by an informer. 

“Mr. Marchesi was flagged for being an undesirable immigrant. Following his failure to answer questions on his activities in the country, he was denied entry into the country,” said Sang.