A giant banner with photos of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Father Giancarlo Bossi, the Italian priest kidnapped in the Philippines, was hung from Rome's city hall on Tuesday.
Walter Veltroni, Rome's mayor, said the banners were in recognition of "people oppressed by one of the last dictatorships of the world which must be opposed and fought."
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, turned 62 on Tuesday, her fifth consecutive birthday spent under house arrest in Myanmar. Suu Kyi has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years in detention. The government considers her a threat to public order and extended her detention last month for one more year.
Veltroni called for Suu Kyi's release as well as the release of 57 year old Father Giancarlo Bossi, an Italian priest kidnapped in the Philippines.
Veltroni said he was hoping Bossi "will be soon freed."
"Yesterday I was able to speak to his brother, the Foreign Ministry follows this case with the usual attention and the usual professionalism, so let's hope that like in similar cases we can see a result soon," Veltroni said.
Bossi was kidnapped in the Philippines on June 10 while travelling by motorcycle in Payao coastal township in Zamboanga Sibugay province. In recent months - the images of other men and women kidnapped in Iraq or elsewhere, have hung from the same balcony, outside City hall piazza