The judge of the Court of Bari, Antonietta Guerra, has ordered the indictment with a hearing scheduled for next October 7th for Luciano Canfora, 82 years old, accused of aggravated defamation against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The decision was taken this morning, 16 April, in Bari. The philologist, professor emeritus of the Aldo Moro University of Bari, had defined the prime minister as a “neo-Nazi of the soul”, “treated like a lunatic” and “poor thing during a public debate in a school.
The prime minister will testify in court
The Prime Minister will be called to testify in court. In this regard, the defender of Canfora, the lawyer Michele Laforgia, explains: «It was one of the things we discussed, and it was also in our defense that if we had to delve deeper into the topic of “neo-Nazism in the soul” on the merits it would have been necessary to hear the person offended by the crime or the complainant, consult an important mass of documents, biographical, bibliographical, autobiographical, which obviously cannot be held in a preliminary or pre-trial hearing”. Laforgia adds: «I remain convinced that the trial for a political judgment for defamation should not be held and that it is very inappropriate to do so when there is currently state power on the other side».
I requested compensation of 20 thousand euros
The Prime Minister, defended by the lawyer Luca Libra who replaces Andrea Del Mastro, undersecretary of justice (for this reason he cannot practice the legal profession). requested compensation of 20 thousand euros from the philologist. In the civil action it is stated that the teacher “has, without any justification, damaged the honour, decorum and reputation of the offended person”, “increasingly attacking his image, as a person and political figure, with gratuitous and unprecedented vulgarity, using vulgar epithets – unpredictable and extemporaneous – which have seriously undermined the intimate and private sphere, as well as the moral and personal heritage of the offended person”. Furthermore, the lawyer Libra underlines the «profound consequences on the psyche and on the personal and professional image of the plaintiff» and concludes that «the request for compensation is motivated, first of all, by the psychophysical damage suffered and, above all, by the damage to the reputation, to honor and image” by Giorgia Meloni. For the public prosecution there are the deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Maralfa and the deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Dentamaro, who reiterated the request to start the trial for Canfora.
Meloni civil party
The prime minister took the form of a civil party while the philologist’s defense requested that proceedings should not proceed because the fact does not exist “or in any case – explains Laforgia – because it is not punishable” taking into account the exercise of the “right of political criticism referred to in the article 51 of the penal code in relation to article 21 of the Constitution”. The judge reserved his decision and the Council Chamber should end at 2.20 pm with the reading of the device. The episode dates back to 11 April 2022, when the prime minister was an opposition parliamentarian and Mario Draghi was at the helm of the government.
The words during the debate on Ukraine in a high school
Canfora had been invited to speak at the Enrico Fermi scientific high school in Bari on the occasion of a meeting on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This is where the philologist he defined Meloni as «neo-Nazi at heart». But in the spotlight there are other words uttered by the philologist towards the prime minister, defined as “poor” and “treated like a lunatic”. Words for which Meloni decided to sue Canfora and the Bari Prosecutor’s Office requested a direct summons to court against the professor. In front of the court in Piazza Saverio Dioguardi, in support of the philologist, the ANPI organized a protest. “Good luck, professor,” they told the philologist the representatives of the Apulian committees of Bari, Santeramo and Altamura, present together with CGIL, Link, the Students’ Union, Zona Franka and the regional observatory on neo-fascism. «The constitution contains rights and freedoms that are under attack – said the ANPI representatives. Anyone who expresses a thought, anyone who criticizes is under attack: from intellectuals on trial to students beaten with truncheons. The case of Canfora is an example. And there are reasons to be concerned and to be present today.”
