It was filed the lawsuit of Forza Nuova for defamation, so the Court of Velletri has expressed its opinion: "the right of journalistic news prevails". The dismissal order of the investigating judge was published on 27 May last in favor of an editor of the Lazio newspaper who had reported the news of the escort to Senator Liliana Segre, following some banners of Forza nuova. The reporter was defended by lawyers Charles Affinitus e Francesca Olivieri.
The phase that is the subject of the lawsuit is reported in his article of last November 7 in the online newspaper "The newspaper of Lazio", Entitled "Liliana Segre, escort assigned to the Senator who survived Auschwitz", in which he stated that "The decision was made during the Public Order and Security Committee which was held"In Milan and that"The triggers were the insults and threats received via the web, in addition to the Forza Nuova banner displayed during a public appointment". The Prefect present at the meeting in Milan had therefore decided to assign an escort to the Senator.
The sentence, according to the lawyers Carlo Affinito and Francesca Olivieri does not offend Forza Nuova and its leader, a thesis confirmed, moreover, also by the prosecutor who requested its archiving.
The journalist, the documents report, did not expressly refer to the protest banner of November 4, 2019, displayed in Milan, in front of the headquarters of the VI Municipio, at about 23.30 pm, by some activists of the political association Forza Nuova, addressed, according to Forza Nuova, not to the Senator, but to the mayor of Milan, beppe room, and the banner text was «ROOM ORDER, THE 'ANTIFA' ACTS, THE PEOPLE SUBJECT».
In a press release dated November 5, 2019, Forza Nuova made it clear that it had not made any threats to the Senator and that Forza Nuova had posted the banner at City Hall 6 of Milan to challenge not the Senator, Liliana Segre, but to publicly denounce the illegitimate occupation of public housing in favor of immigrants, for which the Mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala and some social centers would be somehow politically responsible. From the point of view of the subjective element of the crime of defamation, in the opinion of the defenders Affinito - Olivieri, there is still the excuse, even putative, of the exercise of the right to criticize or to report.
A right that can be configured when, as in the present case, in relation to the reported fact, the journalist has fulfilled the burden of examining, check and verify the object of his narrative, in order to overcome any doubts, as marginal inaccuracies are negligible (Criminal Court Section 5 -, Sentence no. 50189 of 04/11/2019 Ud.).
Furthermore, in terms of political criticism, respect for the truth of the fact assumes a more limited and necessarily weakened significance compared to the right to press, as criticism, and even more so political, as an expression of merely subjective opinion, has by its nature a conjectural character, which cannot, by definition, claim to be strictly objective and aseptic (Criminal Cassation Section 5, Sentence no. 25518 of 26/09/2016 Ud.).
Furthermore, the journalist can benefit from the exemption from the right to report and is not liable for defamation, if the news is given, as happened in the present case, according to the parameters of truthfulness, expository continence and public interest (Cass. Section 5 -, Sentence no. 51235 of 09/10 / 2019 Ud.).
The position of the Forza Nuova leader
Against the archiving request Forza nuova he complained that the news of the assignment of the escort to the Senator, linked to the Forza Nuova banner against the mayor Beppe Sala, would damage the reputation of the right-wing political association.
The judge for the preliminary investigations then set a hearing in the council chamber for 4 May last, to hear the parties and decide in the cross-examination and reserved the right to decide on the outcome of the hearing.
The journalist under investigation for defamation, according to the lawyer Carlo Affinito and the lawyer Francesca Olivieri, would be exempt from any responsibility, as she would not have made express reference to that banner of Forza Nuova, but to the exposition of "a banner", without other specifications relating to the content and without attaching photographs, so it was not certain that he had wanted to refer to the manifesto against Mayor Sala, as the article could well have as its object other banners of the same political group.
In any case, even if one wishes to believe that the banner referred to by the journalist, under investigation for defamation, was precisely the one described by the offended person, Mr Roberto Fiore for Forza Nuova, the details of the defamation could not be considered integrated.
The banner
In fact, the reporter had not claimed that Forza Nuova had displayed a banner directed against the person of Senator Liliana Segre, but had limited itself to reporting an objective fact, namely that "also" because of that banner (in addition to the threats via the web) the decision was made to assign the escort to Senator Segre.
The investigating judge Dr. Ilaria Tarantino therefore accepted the theses of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the defense of the suspect and ordered the filing of the case, considering that the circumstance of the assignment of the escort due to the display of that banner would be far from implausible, however, since it is a banner that "expresses dissent towards anti-fascism (or it could be interpreted as such by the generality of the associates), exposed the night before the public meeting in which Senator Segre would have participated, in the same city (Milan), and in any case in a place not far from that event”, That is, about 20 minutes on foot from the exhibition site.