The Moroccan migrant accused of being involved in Tunisia's Bardo Museum massacre insists he is innocent and refuses to voluntarily be turned over to Tunisian authorities.
Abdelmajid Touil, 22, on Friday had his first hearing in Milan's San Vittorio prison after police arrested him on a Tunisian arrest warrant.
Prosecutors said the warrant accused him of helping plot and execute the March 18 Bardo Museum attack in Tunis that left 22 people dead, including 28-year-old Australian-Colombian dual national Javier Cameloan and his Colombian mother.
Touil's lawyer, Silvia Fiorentino, said Touil told the judge he had nothing to do with the massacre and had been in Italy ever since he arrived.
Prosecutors say Touil arrived in Sicily with a boatload of rescued migrants on February 17.
His lawyer said Touil refused to be handed over to Tunisian authorities, setting the stage for an extradition procedure that may be complicated by Italy's refusal to extradite people to countries with the death penalty.
She said Touil didn't understand why he was in prison, but that overall he was in good health.
"He's OK, compatible with his situation. As OK as I would be if I were in jail and accused of international terrorism," she said.
Even though Touil was ordered expelled from Italy after he arrived in Sicily, Touil's Italian teacher near Milan has told prosecutors he was in class the days before and after the Bardo attack, making it all but impossible that he was physically present in Tunis.
Tunisian authorities have said he provided "indirect" support to the Islamic extremists responsible for the attack.
