Maria Beatriz Bartilotti Matos and Gonçalo Reis Dias were part of the group that was stopped on the way to Gaza and whose video released by Itamar Ben-Gvir became controversial
The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Italy has opened an investigation against Israel’s Minister of National Security for the events that occurred with the activists arrested in the last flotilla that attempted to reach the Gaza Strip.
According to the agency, Itamar Ben-Gvir is the target of the investigation that aims to clarify what happened in May, when a series of activists, including two Portuguese, were detained, tied up and placed on their knees in the port of Ashdod, with the images being released by the Israeli minister himself.
According to this publication, the investigation has been ongoing for several weeks, with allegations of torture and kidnapping.
Maria Beatriz Bartilotti Matos and Gonçalo Reis Dias, as well as all the other activists, were released on the morning of May 21st, after several hours in detention and a video that continues to generate a lot of controversy, mainly because it was shared by Israel’s Minister of National Security.
The vessel containing the two Portuguese men and traveling to the Gaza Strip was intercepted earlier that same week by Israeli forces in international waters, which led Prime Minister Luís Montenegro to defend the partial suspension of the trade agreement between the European Union and Israel following the release of the video.
In the images, the detained members of the flotilla are humiliated by Israeli forces, and Itamar Ben-Gvir is a central figure.
The European Union (EU) classified the treatment given to Gaza flotilla activists detained by Israel as “completely unacceptable”.
