(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 6 - Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has condemned the violence a young Italian man, Matteo Falcinelli, was subjected to when he was arrested in Miami in February.
    Police Bodycam videos show the 25-year-old being slammed to the ground outside a night club and then 'hog-tied', with his ankles bound and his hands behind his back, at a police station.
    During the videos Falcinelli can be heard to say "I'm not resisting", "please", "I'm not doing anything" and, at one point, screaming in pain.
    The arrest dates back to late February but the family have only just gone public with what happened after an agreement in which Falcinelli agreed to go on a re-educational program in order to avoid jail time.
    "I won the most important match by surviving the torture I suffered," Falcinelli told his mother, Vlasta Studenicova.
    Tajani had a telephone conversation with Studenicova about the case on Sunday.
    "I offered the lady and Falcinelli's family my warmest solidarity," Tajani said.
    "I was deeply shocked by the violence and the kind of treatment that was applied to our young compatriot.
    "The foreign ministry will follow Mr. Falcinelli's case with balance and respect for the US institutions, but also with all the necessary strength".
    Miami police have opened an internal inquiry into the case.
    Falcinelli has tried to commit suicide "several times" due to shock, depression and post-traumatic stress after the incident, his mother Vlasta Studenicova told Italian State television on Monday.
    "The first thing he told me with tears in his eyes, which moved me greatly, was 'mum what I experienced was terrible. I tried to commit suicide several times'," Studenicova told Rai television, stressing how upset she and the boy's father were.
    "He will return to Italy shortly, then go back [to the US] for the summer semester".
    The young man's father, Fulvio Falcinelli, told ANSA that the Italian embassy is dealing with the case.
    "The embassy and the consulate are dealing with the matter.
    Thank you for your interest, but I will not make any statements", he said.
    Reached by telephone, the father did not want to comment in any way on the affair, leaving matters up to the diplomatic activity that has followed the complaint from the young man's mother.
    Falcinelli himself said through his mother that he was touched by all the support he had received and now wanted justice.
    She said he said "I am touched by the support I have been receiving in these hours, also Italian citizens here in the United States.
    "Now I want justice". (ANSA).