Photos from the funeral of 25-year-old Nigerian graduate who committed suicide in Italy after residence permit denial ~ Crown Gist

Photos from the funeral of 25-year-old Nigerian graduate who committed suicide in Italy after residence permit denial

A 25-year-old Nigerian man identified as Prince Jerry killed himself in Italy after authorities denied him a residence permit. Read hereJerry's funeral was held Friday morning, at the Chiesa dell'Annunziata in Genoa.Prince Jerry was a chemistry graduate and was continuing his studies at a University having arrived from Libya on a boat two and a half years ago.In mid-January his appeal to stay in the country was rejected and he fell into a deep depression, according to sources close to Jerry, who was staying in Tortona in Piedmont at the time of his death.

Italian authorities have been denying residence permits in their hundreds and have started removing migrants from centres as the governments hardline immigration measures kick in.Approved in December, the Salvini decree named after Matteo Salvini, the interior minister and leader of the far-right League abolishes humanitarian protection for those not eligible for refugee status.After discovering he couldnt even count on the humanitarian permission that was cancelled by the recent decree, one of our boys took his own life, said Fr Giacomo Di Martino of the charity Migrantes.

Fr Alex Zanotelli, a member of the Comboni missionaries in Verona, described Jerrys death as a state murder, the bitter fruit of the Salvini decree, which besides insecurity produces deaths.Many of the migrants and refugees we treat in our projects have already passed through traumatic experiences in their journey, in many cases with episodes of violence and torture in Libya, Lilian Pizzi, a psychologist with Mdecins Sans Frontires in Rome, told the Guardian.When they arrive in Europe they are often retraumatised by arbitrary policies that

reduce their rights and by an atmosphere of hate and racism amplified by the media. And all this exacerbates a sense of powerlessness and exclusion.More photos below...