Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio is closely monitoring the case of Italian citizen Enrico 'Chico' Forti, who was arrested in the United States 1998, tried and sentenced to life in prison for murdering Australian Dale Pike.
"Minister Di Maio is closely monitoring the case," said a foreign ministry statement on Wednesday.
The statement said the Italian government is seeking a judicial review by US authorities of Forte's conviction by a Florida court in 2000, a sentence that became final in 2010 after all his appeals failed.
"Over these years, the Italian citizen was able to count on the continuous assistance from the Italian Consular authorities," said the statement.
In 2016, Forte was transferred to a prison near Miami, which is easier for personnel of the Consulate General to get to, the statement noted.
"The Italian Embassy and Consulate are in constant contact with Mr Forti and his lawyers and he is periodically visited in prison to verify his health and detention conditions," the statement said.
If Forti's case is not reviewed in the US and he is not acquitted of Pike's murder, the Italian government will seek to have him transferred to Italy to serve his sentence "closer to his relations", the statement said.
