Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte has condemned the blindfolding of one of two American teenage students arrested in Rome last week over the killing of a police officer and the posting on Internet of the image.
"Italy is a state where the rule of law applies," Conte wrote on Facebook.
"The Carabinieri were right to identify the perpetrator of this improper behaviour and to request their immediate transfer... meting out such treatment (blindfolding) to a person who has been deprived of their liberty violates our juridical principles and values," Conte wrote.
Police have launched an investigation into a photo that emerged on social media at the weekend showing 18-year-old Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth sitting in a Rome police station blindfolded with his head bowed and his hands restrained behind is back.
"The behaviour of whoever responsible for posting photos (of Natale-Hjorth) to social media is equally deplorable and is in contempt of the most elementary rules to protect privacy," Conte's post said.
Conte urged Italians "not to be swept away by emotion" in the case in which Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega was stabbed to death last week in the upscale Prati district of Rome when he intervened in a brawl over an alleged drug deal gone awry.
Natale-Hjorth and fellow American Finnegan Lee Elder, 19 were due to in court on Monday to face charges of murder and extortion.
Police say the pair have confessed. Elder allegedly stabbed Rega repeatedly while Natale-Hjorth punched Rega's fellow plainclothes officer.
