ROME (AP) — A lawyer for an Eritrean man jailed in Rome as an alleged migrant smuggling kingpin says his client keeps insisting police in Sudan nabbed him in a case of mistaken identity.

Lawyer Michele Calantropo said Saturday he expects the man to be transferred soon to Sicily, the base of prosecutors investigating Libyan-based operations smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe. Calantropo says a judge will rule on his request for his client's release after prosecutors present their opinion, a step he expects to happen Monday.

Sudan sent a suspect identified as Medhane Yehdego Mered to Italy, which sought him on a warrant. But the Eritrean community abroad quickly contended the arrested man isn't Mered.