ROME — Italy’s main trade union confederation said Tuesday that it was joining the prosecution of a farm owner charged with the murder of an Indian migrant worker who bled to death after his arm was cut off by a piece of equipment.

Antonello Lovato, 39, has been accused of abandoning the injured and bleeding Satnam Singh, 31, and failing to call an ambulance following the incident in Latina, a largely agricultural province south of Rome, on June 17, 2024. Prosecutors originally considered charging Lovato with manslaughter, but raised it to murder with malice after the fact since he was aware the actions could cause death.

At the opening of his murder trial on Tuesday, Lovato said that “he lost his head,’” when he saw Singh, who was working in the country illegally, bleeding. “I wasn’t myself. I didn’t want him to die,” he was cited by the news agency ANSA as saying.

Outside the court, dozens of union members, including Sikh workers wearing turbans, demonstrated against the system of exploitative, underpaid migrant labor in Italy’s agricultural sector, called “caporalato.”

“I believe that what happened was apparent to everyone,” Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of the powerful CGIL trade union federation, told the crowd. “As is the logic of exploitation known as ‘caporalato,’ which allows for people to be treated like merchandise, like parts of a machine that can be easily bought and sold for the lowest price. And I insist that it is this culture that needs to be changed.”

The CGIL is joining the prosecution as civil complainants, Landini was cited by LaPresse news agency as saying. Under Italian law, parties recognized by the court as injured in the commission of crime can join the prosecution, question witnesses and possibly win damage awards in the case of conviction.

“We think it is important to seek justice, above all to put in motion everything necessary to change the way of doing business so episodes like this can never be repeated,” Landini said. “We don’t think this is an isolated case. It is a mistake to think this problem can be resolved with this trial. We are worried because the season is starting again.”

The trial continues May 27.