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‘Warning’ to Italy’s journalists as court fines reporter for defaming Meloni

An Italian court on Thursday handed a suspended fine of 1,000 euros to journalist Roberto Saviano after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sued him for criticising her stance on migrants.

Published: 13 October 2023 09:26 CEST
'Warning' to Italy's journalists as court fines reporter for defaming Meloni
Italian anti-mafia journalist and author Roberto Saviano speak to the press after the verdict in the trial brought by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Court of Rome on October 12th, 2023. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Saviano, best known for his international mafia bestseller Gomorrah, had called the far-right leader a “bastard” on national television in December 2020, when Meloni was still in opposition. 

His lawyer Antonio Nobile said he would appeal the verdict, after a trial  that has sparked fears over freedom of speech in Italy.

But the fine was far less than the 10,000 euros requested by the Rome prosecutor, and the 75,000 euros in damages demanded by Meloni’s lawyer.

It was also suspended, meaning it need not be paid except in the case of a repeat offence, and will not be mentioned on Saviano’s criminal record, Nobile told AFP.

Speaking to reporters outside the Rome court, Saviano said Meloni’s hard-right government had sought to “intimidate” him for calling out “lies” about migrants and the charity ships that rescue them in the Mediterranean.

But he added: “There is no greater honour for a writer than to see their own words brought to trial… so today I am actually proud of having done this.”

READ ALSO: Six things to know about the state of press freedom in Italy

In court, Meloni’s lawyer, Luca Libra, had said Saviano’s words were not criticism but an “insult”, accusing him of using “excessive, vulgar and aggressive language”.

Press freedom groups had supported Saviano in a case he had described as a test of “whether or not it is possible to exercise the right of criticism” in
Italy.

Sabrina Tucci of PEN International said it was “deeply disappointed” at the verdict.

“This sentence is an attack on freedom of expression which the Italian constitution and international law recognise as an inalienable human right,” she said.

The fact the case was brought by the prime minister “is a dangerous warning for all writers and journalists… inviting them to measure their words, to not risk long legal battles, financial difficulties, emotional distress and imprisonment”, she added.

Italian journalist Roberto Saviano faced trial for calling Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni “a bastard” back in 2020. Photos: Alberto PIZZOLI and Andreas SOLARO/AFP

Saviano, who lives under police protection due to threats from the mafia, had made the comment about Meloni on a political TV chat show following the death in a shipwreck of a six-month-old baby from Guinea.

The baby, Joseph, had been one of 111 migrants rescued by the Open Arms charity ship. He died before he could receive medical attention.

In footage shot by rescuers and shown to Saviano on the show, the baby’s mother can be heard weeping “Where’s my baby? Help, I lose my baby!”

Saviano blasted Meloni, who leads the post-Fascist Brothers of Italy party,  and Matteo Salvini, the leader of the anti-immigrant League party.

“I just want to say to Meloni, and Salvini: ‘You bastards! How could you?'” Saviano said on the show.

The year before, Meloni had said charity rescue ships “should be sunk”, while Salvini, as interior minister that same year, blocked such vessels from docking in Italian ports.

READ ALSO: What’s behind Italy’s soaring number of migrant arrivals?

After taking office in October 2022 on a promise to end migrant landings in Italy, Meloni’s government limited the activities of charity rescue ships – but the number of arrivals continues to soar.

Salvini – now deputy prime minister in Meloni’s government – has filed a separate defamation suit against Saviano for calling him the “minister of the criminal underworld” in a social media post in 201The case is still ongoing, with the next hearing due on December 7.

“I will not give up against this gang,” Saviano said Thursday.

Defamation through the media can be punished in Italy with prison sentences from six months to three years.

PEN International called on Italy to abolish its defamation laws, saying: “Those who express their opinions on matters of public interest should not feel threatened.”

Italy’s Constitutional Court urged lawmakers in 2020 and 2021 to rewrite the legislation, saying jail time for such cases was unconstitutional and should only be resorted to in cases of “exceptional severity”.

Italy has long compared poorly to its European neighbours for press freedom. It ranked 41st in the 2023 world press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders, up from 58th in 2022.

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POLITICS

Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

The year 2024 is a bumper one for elections, among them the European elections in June. Italy is of course a member of the EU - so can foreign residents vote in the elections that will almost certainly affect their daily lives?

Published: 3 May 2024 15:25 CEST
Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

Across Europe, people will go to the polls in early June to select their representatives in the European Parliament, with 76 seats up for grabs in Italy. 

Although European elections usually see a much lower turnout than national elections, they are still seen as important by Italian politicians.

Giorgia Meloni will stand as a candidate this year, hoping use her personal popularity to give her Brothers of Italy party a boost and build on her success in Italy to “send the left into opposition” at the European level too.

When to vote

Across Italy, polling takes place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2024.

Polling stations will be set up in the same places as for national and local elections – usually town halls, leisure centres and other public buildings.

You have to vote at the polling station for the municipality in which you are registered as a resident, which should be indicated on your electoral card.

Polling stations open at 8am and mostly close at 6pm, although some stay open later.

Unlike in presidential or local elections, there is only a single round of voting in European elections.

Who can vote? 

Italian citizens – including dual nationals – can vote in European elections, even if they don’t live in Italy. As is common for Italian domestic elections, polling booths will be set up in Italian consulates around the world to allow Italians living overseas to vote.

Non-Italian citizens who are living in Italy can only vote if they have citizenship of an EU country. So for example Irish citizens living in Italy can vote in European elections but Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc. cannot.

Brits in Italy used to be able to vote before Brexit, but now cannot – even if they have the post-Brexit carta di soggiorno.

If you have previously voted in an election in Italy – either local or European – you should still be on the electoral roll.

If not, in order to vote you need to send an application more than 90 days before the election date.

How does the election work?

The system for European elections differs from most countries’ domestic polls. MEPs are elected once every five years.

Each country is given an allocation of MEPs roughly based on population size. At present there are 705 MEPs: Germany – the country in the bloc with the largest population – has the most while the smallest number belong to Malta with just six.

Italy, like most of its EU neighbours, elects its MEPs through direct proportional representation via the ‘list’ system, so that parties gain the number of MEPs equivalent to their share of the overall vote.

So, for example, if Meloni’s party won 50 percent of the vote they would get 38 out of the total of 76 Italian seats.

Exactly who gets to be an MEP is decided in advance by the parties who publish their candidate lists in priority order. So let’s say that Meloni’s party does get that 50 percent of the vote – then the people named from 1 to 38 on their list get to be MEPs, and the people lower down on the list do not, unless a candidate (for example, Meloni) declines the seat and passes it on to the next person on the list.

In the run up to the election, the parties decide on who will be their lead candidates and these people will almost certainly be elected (though Meloni would almost definitely not take up her seat as an MEP, as this would mean resigning from office in Italy).

The further down the list a name appears, the less likely that person is to be heading to parliament.

Once in parliament, parties usually seek to maximise their influence by joining one of the ‘blocks’ made up of parties from neighbouring countries that broadly share their interests and values eg centre-left, far-right, green.

The parliament alternates between Strasbourg and Brussels. 

Find out more about voting in the European elections from Italy on the European Parliament’s website or the Italian interior ministry’s website.

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