ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 20. /TASS/. Andrea Lucidi, editor-in-chief of the Italian office of International Reporters and Russian passport holder, who was detained in Istanbul, was planning to work there as part of a delegation gathering information on Turkish isolation prisons, International Reporters’ editor-in-chief Viktoriya Smorodina told TASS.
"The editor-in-chief of the Italian office of International Reporters, Andrea Lucidi, was detained this morning in Istanbul. He was placed in a center for refugees and immigrants. Neither he nor his lawyers have been informed of the reason for his detention. There is currently no contact with him. Andrea arrived as part of an international delegation investigating Turkey's S-, R-, and Y-type isolation prisons," Smorodina said.
She noted that this was the second time of one of their journalists had been detained in the past six months.
Earlier, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian journalist had been apprehended in Istanbul. Lucidi has worked in Donbass and holds Russian citizenship, which he received a year ago.
Since 2022, Lucidi has been residing permanently in Russia, covering the course of the special military operation. On November 10, 2024, he submitted a request to President Vladimir Putin for Russian citizenship due to persecution in his home country, and was granted it on January 29, 2025.