Italy: Meloni takes to justice a well-known journalist who works for the left-wing newspaper Domani

The far-right prime minister Georgia Meloni took the decision to bring to justice one of the most famous journalists-researchers at Italyannounced yesterday Tuesday (22/11) by the interested party himself.

It is the second proceeding of this nature since Mrs Meloni took office last month.

Emiliano Fittipaldi, who works for the left-wing newspaper Domani, as well as its director, Stefano Feltri, are accused of distorted the facts in an article published in 2021 that said the far-right leader tried to help her friend secure a contract with the Italian government in a cut-price tender during the pandemic.

Ms Meloni, whose party, the Brotherhood of Italy (FdI) was in opposition at the time, denied the report and filed lawsuits.

A Rome judge ruled last week that a trial would take place, Mr Fittipaldi told AFP.. Ms. Meloni’s attorney said for her part that the trial will be held on July 10, 2024.

“I just wrote real news”the reporter said, promising that both he and the paper would continue their investigations, including those into “disturbing” matters.

The decision to put Mr. Fittipaldi on trial coincided with the start of the trial, in which Mrs. Meloni is pitted against Roberto Saviano, a famous journalist and writer who fought against the mafia (the Gomorrah book became a global bestseller), who is accused of defamation because he sharply criticized the positions of the current Italian Prime Minister regarding the immigration issue.

For Mr. Fittipaldi, who is known for his revelations regarding scandals in the Vatican“it is the norm for investigative journalists in Italy” to face lawsuits.

“But this is the first time I will be on trial with a rival prime minister, who has gigantic power compared to an opposition journalist,” he commented.

In his article, Mr Fittipaldi said Ms Meloni had phoned Domenico Arcuri, the government’s special commissioner for dealing with the pandemic, to put in a good word for a friend of hers who had taken part in a discount tender for the government’s supply of masks. .

According to Domani, Ms. Meloni confirmed that she called the commissioner, but denied that she tried to influence his decision..

The lawyer for the head of the far-right coalition government accused the newspaper of putting a “defamatory and misleading headline” on the report.

The trial is “the result of an article skillfully written to make defamatory and baseless accusations,” Ms Meloni’s lawyer, Luca Libra, insisted to AFP.

According to the most recent data available, released by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2017, nearly 9,500 defamation lawsuits were filed against journalists that year.

Media defamation charge carries prison terms of six months to three years in Italy.

Italy’s constitutional court called on parliamentarians in 2020 and 2021 to amend the law regarding such cases, stressing that prison sentences for charges of this nature are likely to be unconstitutional.