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POLITICS

Second Italian minister takes anti-mafia reporter Saviano to court

Just weeks after going on trial in a case brought by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italian investigative journalist Roberto Saviano was back in court on Wednesday facing allegations of defamation lodged by Meloni's deputy, Matteo Salvini.

Italian writer Roberto Saviano leaves court on February 1, 2023, following a hearing in a defamation lawsuit from Italy's current Deputy Prime Minister.
Italian writer Roberto Saviano leaves court on February 1, 2023, following a hearing in a defamation lawsuit from Italy's current Deputy Prime Minister. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP.

Deputy Prime Minister Salvini, whose far-right League party is a key member of Meloni’s coalition, is suing the journalist for calling him the “minister of the criminal underworld” in a social media post in 2018.

In November, Saviano went on trial in a case brought by Meloni for calling her a “bastard” in 2020 over her attitude towards vulnerable migrants.

READ ALSO: Press freedom fears as Italian PM Meloni takes Saviano to trial

Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party was in opposition at the time, but won September elections on a promise to curb mass migration.

Saviano, known for his international mafia bestseller “Gomorrah”, regularly clashes with Italy’s far-right and says the trials are an attempt to intimidate him.

He faces up to three years in prison if convicted in either trial.

“I think it is the only case in Western democracies where the executive asks the judiciary to lay down the boundaries within which it is possible to criticise it,” Saviano said in a declaration in court on Wednesday.

He said he was “blatantly the victim of intimidation by lawsuit”, on trial “for making my opinion, my thoughts, public”.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about press freedom in Italy

Press freedom watchdogs and supporters of Saviano have called for the suits to be scrapped. Meloni refused in November, despite criticism that her position of power makes it an unfair trial.

Armed guard

Saviano has lived under police protection since revealing the secrets of the Naples mafia in 2006.

But when Salvini was appointed interior minister in a previous government in June 2018, he suggested he might scrap Saviano’s armed guard.

The writer reacted on Facebook, saying Salvini “can be defined ‘the minister of the criminal underworld’,” an expression he said was coined by anti-fascist politician Gaetano Salvemini to describe a political system which exploited voters in Italy’s poorer South.

READ ALSO: Anti-mafia author Saviano won’t be ‘intimidated’ by Salvini

He accused Salvini of having profited from votes in Calabria to get elected senator, while failing to denounce the region’s powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia and focusing instead on seasonal migrants.

Salvini’s team are expected to reject any claim he is soft on the mafia.

Saviano’s lawyer said he will call as a witness the current interior minister Matteo Piantedosi, who at the time was in charge of evaluating the journalist’s police protection.

The next hearing was set for June 1st.

Watchdogs have warned of the widespread use in Italy of SLAPPS, lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists or whistleblowers.

Defamation through the media can be punished in Italy with prison sentences from six months to three years, but the country’s highest court has urged lawmakers to rewrite the law, saying jail time for such cases was unconstitutional.

Saviano is also being sued by Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano in a civil defamation case brought in 2020, before Sangiuliano joined the cabinet.

A ruling in that case could come in the autumn. If he loses that case Saviano may have to pay up to 50,000 euros in compensation, his lawyer told AFP.

Italy ranked 58th in the 2022 world press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders, one of the lowest positions in western Europe.

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PROTESTS

Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice

An unauthorised anarchist demonstration planned in Venice has led to the deployment of 700 police officers and local businesses closing early.

Planned anarchist protest puts police on alert in Venice

As many as 700 police officers have been on patrol in Venice since the early hours of Saturday morning in anticipation of an unauthorised demonstration by anarchists scheduled for 3pm in the Campo Santa Margherita.

With tensions high in the city, many local businesses in the area have boarded up their shopfronts and closed for the day. Tourists in the area are being moved on by police.

Police have also been carrying out checks on new arrivals in the city at the Ponte della Liberta, according to La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre. The extra security has caused long queues and traffic on the bridges that connect the historic city with the mainland. 

Around 200 anarchists are expected in the city, with some even travelling from outside Italy. 

The demonstration has been organised in support of Juan Antonio Sorreche Fernandez, a Spanish citizen sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Treviso court for planting a bomb at the headquarters of Lega di Villorba in 2018.

As of 2pm, La Nuova reports that the Campo Santa Margherita is calm but that demonstrators had started to arrive in the city.

Business and tourist activity continues as normal in the rest of the city. 

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