Italian anti-mafia writer and human rights activist Roberto Saviano was convicted Thursday of defamation and received a symbolic fine for calling Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni a “bastard” for her positions on immigration.
The Rome court fined Saviano 1,000 euros, but his defense lawyer Antonio Nobile told Reuters he will not have to pay it because it is part of a suspended sentence.
Nobile also said the guilty verdict will be contested.
Meloni sued Saviano, calling him a “serial hater” when he was in opposition, in response to a 2020 television interview in which he criticized her and another right-wing leader, Matteo Salvini, for their attacks on fishing boats. charities that save immigrants.
“All this nonsense (said about NGOs), about sea taxis, about cruises (for immigrants),” he said. “I can only say: bastards, how can you? Meloni, Salvini: bastards”.
Saviano spoke after watching footage of a sea rescue by the Spanish NGO Braços Abertos in which a six-month-old baby from Guinea died before being flown to Italy.
Saviano, who has lived under 24-hour protection since he published the book “Gomorra” in 2006, which denounced the Neapolitan mafia and was adapted for film and television, has a history of clashes with right-wing politicians.
Source: Terra
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