MESSINA, 30 April – “The fact that, on the issue of the failure to appoint the Ombudsman for Prisoners in the Municipality of Messina from 2016 to today, is surprising and raises questions, the President of the Municipal Council is the one responding to my note and following an article published by the Gazzetta del Sud. Nello Pergolizzi and not the Mayor of Messina. The silence of Federico Basile on the issue, as on many others I have raised on social services, is also confirmed by the demonstration of disinterest on the part of the Mayor towards the numerous requests received from the President of the Criminal Chamber of Messina ‘Erasmo da Rotterdam’ lawyer Filippo Mangiapane”. The Senator of Italia Viva writes it Dafne Musolino.
“As far as I know – continues Senator Musolino – that for at least one year the President of the Criminal Chamber lawyer. Mangiapane urged the Mayor to undertake initiatives relating to legality and prison in Messina, in line with many examples of other cities. Appeals that were repeated until last December but to which Mayor Basile has always remained deaf responding with evasive and never producing referrals without any concrete expression of interest.
The same disinterest was also reserved for the requests received from the President of the Pisani Criminal Chamber, lawyer. Bonny Candido who invited, albeit informally, the Mayor to appoint the Guarantor, receiving in exchange the reply that it was an act falling within the competence of the Council.
In short, a passing the buck that demonstrates, where still necessary, how distant the issue is from the priorities of this administration.
I also remember that in December last year on the occasion of the theatrical performance organized by the Archdiocese and performed by the prisoners, there was no shortage of congratulatory messages from the President of the Republic, but there was yet another silence from the municipal administration and from Mayor Basileperhaps because they were too busy organizing concerts and Christmas markets to realize what was happening.”
“A deafening silence – underlines Dafne Musolino – the result of an evident insensitive attitude towards the topic of prisons and legality which from Basile is also reflected in Pergolizzi as seen the tone of the latter’s note in response to mine. Pergolizzi, in fact, accuses me of being rude but aligns himself with the omissive attitude of the administration which continues not to publish data on assets confiscated from the mafiawhile no explanation is provided on the reasons for the failure to establish the municipal anti-mafia observatory.
In Pergolizzi I strongly advise you to remember that the office of President of the municipal council imposes impartiality on administrative issueswhich is why he should avoid speaking like a party leader and commit himself to carrying out his tasks without invoking alleged delays due to unspecified reasons considering that the activity of the city council, net of the sessions of the Commission on the Messina Bridge , it doesn’t seem that convulsive to me to have prevented for two years from addressing issues of legality in the city.
After the shots fired at businesses in via Palermo occurred last summer and the numerous operations of the police to combat the drug dealing in the city, I would have expected that a debate would open in the City Council on the topic that I had already raised last October on the occasion of the attack on Commander Giardina. But then as now, the only response the administration can provide is an indignant note of protest which, once again, he does his best in offending those who dare to express a different thought but he is not capable of going into the merits of the issues” concludes Senator Musolino.
