Ravenna, 12 June 2024 – There will not be, the process for Roman greetings who in August 2020, in Ravenna, commemorated the fascist hierarch Ettore Muti. The pre-trial hearing in court in Ravenna ended with ‘no proceeding’, essentially a acquittalfor the two accused: Domenico MorosiniLombard entrepreneur owner of Villa Carpena in Forlì (the home that belonged to the Mussolini family), and Mirko Santarellifrom Faenza, former head of the Arditi of Ravenna, for years organizer of the gatherings in memory of the Duce in Predappio.
The two militants were accused of violating article 2 of the Mancino law, or the propaganda of racist ideologies. Judge Antonella Guidomei considered that there were no conditions for the trial. From this point of view, in the interpretation of the defence, the ruling of the United Sections of the Court was decisive Court of Cassation last January (the sentence was then filed in April). Following that opinion, the Ravenna Prosecutor’s Office itself had modified the accusation, which initially also contested the violation of the Scelba law (apology for fascism). It’s about one of the very first decisions in Italy of this type, certainly the first in Romagna.
He rejoices Francesco Minutillo, Mirko Santarelli’s lawyer: “We managed not to even go to trial.” And he speaks of “the right to commemorate our martyrs and deceased by following the fascist rite”, which includes the Roman salute and the ‘present’. “I cannot hide with this professional satisfaction that I also experienced a moment of truth emotion, thinking and hoping that the season of judicial persecution is over.” Minutillo reasons that “for there to be propaganda of racist ideology it would have been necessary to demonstrate that the racist association still existed in current times.” And he considers, after having read the reasons, “to call the pro-partisan association that authored the complaint compensate for damages”. Because, according to Minutillo, “whoever has the courage from now on to denounce those who perform the Roman salute during a commemoration, in Ravenna, Predappio or Acca Larentia, will do so in the reckless awareness of accusing an innocent person”.
Instead, he says “banned and embittered”. Andrea Masterslawyer representing the anti-fascist provincial council of Ravenna. Which underlines “the public, reiterated, ostentatious exaltation not of just any figure but of Ettore Muti, squad member and secretary of the National Fascist Party. The aims of ideological exaltation and proselytism are clear.” And he recalls that “the Roman salute and the ‘present’ are objectively attributable to the fascist ritual for the Court of Cassation, as provided for in articles 3 and 9 of the regulations of the National Fascist Party”. Finally, an observation: “As a citizen and a jurist, I would not like to raise my children in a country where one can freely and with impunity glorify a fascist squad member like Ettore Muti, make the call of the present and the Roman salute. A country in which two laws in force, the Scelba law and the Mancino law, legal barriers erected in defense of democratic and constitutional values, are in fact disregarded”.
