Shortly after his arrival in Italy it emerged that his conviction would depend almost totally on the testimony of another Tunisian man, living in Italy, a criminal named Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil.[18][19][20][21][22][23] Italian prosecutor Elio Ramondini said it would be "impossible" to convict him without Tlil's testimony.[22] Tlil threatened to withhold his testimony. Italy had placed him in its witness protection program, but Tlil felt the terms of the program weren't generous enough.