Bologna, August 5, 2026 – A very limited time frame. This morning, this was the time available to the prosecutor’s expert, engineer Giuseppe Ferraro, and the parties’ consultants to spy on the phone of Abderrahim Fakir and download a partial portion of the content of the device of the 42-year-old Moroccan who died in Pilastro.
How the phone was unlocked
The partial acquisition of the phone’s content was carried out through the bootloader unlocking, that is the process that allows disabling the protection that normally enforces secure boot during device startup. Bypassing this system, the prosecutor’s expert was able to acquire a partial forensic copy of the phone’s content before the locking system was activated, which put a damper on the engineering work.
As anticipated in recent days by Carlino, in fact, the inability to have the unlock code of Fakir’s phone hindered the consultants’ work. This effectively prevented the complete download of the device’s content. Now, it will always be the expert’s task to sift through what was extracted before the locking system came into effect. The deadline set by the prosecutor – represented by Deputy Prosecutor Morena Plazzi and prosecutors Arienti and Ambrosino – to trace back in Fakir’s chats and content is January 1, 2026. However, it remains to be seen if the partial acquisition made by the expert reaches this date and in what way, that is with which contents, messages, trace information. After this evaluation, which is the expert’s prerogative these days, it will be up to the prosecutor’s office itself to decide which path to take.
Read more “Dream of becoming a model destroyed.” Slips on scooter at 15, hit and dragged by a car:
The investigations
To complete the acquisition securely up to the cloud, bypassing the pin code lock, a special system used in Rome could be employed, but this would cause a delay in the consultancy times, all to be related to the strict time limits within which the investigation is moving. The Bologna prosecutor’s office is proceeding for manslaughter with a model 45-bis file, the so-called criminal shield that in this case protects six people (two police officers and four 118 paramedics) from being formally investigated. Provided that all investigations are concluded within 120 days. Also weighing on the possible decision (in case the acquisition is not enough) will be determining whether the phone now in the possession of the judicial authority was the one most used by Fakir or not. Since the 42-year-old who died in Pilastro at the climax of a police stop was in possession of another recently used phone. Never found.
Future analyses
The one on Fakir’s phone is just one of the key investigations into the death of the 42-year-old. At the end of August, analyses supporting the autopsy will also resume with already scheduled examinations on Abderrahim’s heart, then toxicological and histological tests. Finally, on Monday the prosecutor’s office, mobile squad, and Parma RIS returned to via Svevo 6 to carry out 3D surveys using drones and laser scanners to recreate the scene and contextualize the chronology of the footage available: from residents’ videos, to camera recordings, up to the complete footage of the bodycam of one of the police officers.
