Gabriele Del Grande is free. The announcement came via Twitter directly from the Italian Foreign Minister, Angelino Alfano.
The reporter has already returned to Italy, landing around 10 am at Bologna airport.
“I spoke to him – wrote the number one of the Farnesina – I had the joy of notifying his family. We look forward to it."
1/2 Gabriele Del Grande is free. I have spoken to him now he is returning to Italy. I had the joy of informing his family members. We are waiting for him.
— Angelino Alfano (@angealfa) 24 April 2017
In a subsequent tweet, Alfano added:
2/2 Last night, my colleague Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu communicated the decision to me. I thank him. #iostocongabriele
— Angelino Alfano (@angealfa) 24 April 2017
Del Grande was stopped on April 9 by the Turkish authorities during a security check in the southern area of the country, on the border with Syria.
A few days later, on April 13, the reporter was transferred to an administrative detention center in southwestern Turkey on the Aegean coast.
On April 18, after a long silence, Del Grande was able to telephone home for the first time, announcing the start of a hunger strike to protest against his detention, considered illegal.
