An Italian fathers' rights campaigner who tried to set fire to himself on live television said on Friday that his gesture had been on behalf of other desperate dads.
Nicola De Martino, who was recently reunited with his son having last seen him 12 years ago, told reporters that "it was all for the cause. I know fathers who have been waiting for six, seven years to see their kids - well, I did it for them".
De Martino tried to set himself alight on Thursday night while appearing as a guest on the current affairs programme Dieci Minute (Ten Minutes) on state broadcaster RAI.
The presenter, Maurizio Martinelli, and De Martino's 18-year-old son Luca looked on in horror as the father doused himself with petrol and threatened to set fire to himself with a match.
Martinelli and studio technicians managed to wrest the match from De Martino's hands and lead him away from the cameras.
De Martino had been invited on the show to talk about the plight of fathers denied access to their children.
He said he had wanted Martinelli to read out a document he had written on law reforms which would boost fathers' rights and ensure they were treated fairly by the courts.
De Martino fought for 12 years to see his son after his Italo-Australian wife disappeared from their Rome home with their six-year-old son.
He only found out three months later that she had returned to Australia taking Luca with her.
He said the subsequent costly legal battle had taken him through Italian, European and Australian courts but to no avail. He criticised the Italian justice and foreign ministries for not doing enough for fathers caught up in cross-border custody cases.
He was only able to see Luca again after the latter turned 18 and was able to decide for himself on whether to visit his father.
De Martino stressed that his gesture had been a "desperate one and the result of all my suffering".
"I cannot bear the thought of anyone else having to go through what I went through," he said.
The Italian association for fathers' rights, Figli Negati (Children Denied), said it "condemned the act but not the father".
Figli Negati Chairman Giorgio Ceccarelli said that "acts like these kill our cause but I can understand the person because he was under such stress. He hadn't seen his son for 12 years".
