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CRIME

Italy defends ‘fascist’ officers who killed Berlin attacker

Italy's Interior Minister on Thursday angrily dismissed questions about the far-right sympathies of the policemen who killed the Berlin Christmas market attacker, saying Europe should be grateful to them.

Published: 2 March 2017 16:24 CET
Italy defends 'fascist' officers who killed Berlin attacker
Interior Minister Marco Minniti speaking last month in Libya. Photo: STR/AFP

The minister, Marco Minniti, publicly hailed Luca Scata, 29, and Christian Movio, 34, as heroes after their December 23rd shoot-out with Anis Amri ended with the Tunisian Islamist militant lying dead on a pavement near the Sesto San Giovanni railway station in Milan.

Amri's death came four days after he hijacked a truck in the German capital Berlin, killed its Polish driver and ploughed the vehicle into a Christmas market, killing another 11 people in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

READ ALSO: What was the Berlin market attacker doing in Milan?

The Italian centre-left government's decision to identify the officers involved in the Milan shoot-out raised eyebrows immediately.

The national feelgood factor surrounding their actions began to evaporate with the emergence of social media posts which point to the officers being admirers of World War II era fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Scata, the rookie whose shots killed Amri, published pictures of Mussolini on his Instagram account along with a selfie showing him making a fascist salute whilst wearing a Union Flag hoodie.

Movio also published questionable posts on Facebook, including an image of a Coca-Cola bottle with an image of Adolf Hitler on it.

The media images have made it impossible for Germany, given its Nazi past, to contemplate giving the officers any kind of official recognition for their bravery on December 23rd.

Talk of Italy giving them medals has also been dropped and it was revealed earlier last month that the two officers had been transferred from Milan to a new unknown location.

Against that backdrop, Minniti took umbrage at being asked if there was any place for officers with fascist sympathies in a police force of a democratic country.

“When the officers intercepted Amri and asked to check his identity, the first thing that he did was to open fire,” the minister said. “He hit one of them. The other one managed to get out of the way and neutralized the terrorist.

“You understand that we have to be just a tiny bit grateful to these two guys and the interior ministry is grateful to them,” the minister said.

He added: “Just imagine for a moment what might have happened had it gone the other way.

“It was a 50-50 situation. That night, the police neutralized a terrorist, but it could have been the terrorist who neutralized the police. You understand what I am saying.

“If Amri had been able to get away from San Giovanni what would we be discussing in Europe now?”

By Angus MacKinnon
 

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POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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