Sassari The prosecutor reiterated the requests for conviction requested in the first instance (two months’ imprisonment). Paolo Pirasapplied yesterday 24 June 2024 in the court of appeal for the second degree of judgment against 22 people accused of apology for fascism.
It was Piras himself who challenged the judge’s verdict Sergio De Luca which in 2021 had acquitted the defendants of the accusation of having violated the Scelba law which in article 5 punishes “anyone who, with words, gestures or in any other way, publicly carries out demonstrations usual to the dissolved fascist party”.
The “Roman salute” was addressed to the professor’s coffin on 2 September 2018 Giampiero Todini in the churchyard of San Giuseppe, accompanied by the cry “Presente” at the call “Camerata Giampiero Todini”. But for judge De Luca those gestures “were not such, due to their methods and the moment and environment in which they were carried out, to constitute a concrete danger with respect to the reconstitution of the dissolved fascist party”.
Last January, prosecutor Piras had requested a postponement of the hearing pending the reasons for the cases United Sections of the Supreme Court on a similar case: that of the 8 defendants who gave the Roman salute during a far-right demonstration in Milan. Acquitted at first instance, they were convicted on appeal. However, the Supreme Court annulled the conviction, referring it to another section of the court of appeal.
The reasons were filed in April: on the one hand the Supreme Court says that «the existence of the factual elements must be ascertained, including the environmental context, the possible symbolic value of the place of verification, the degree of immediate, or otherwise, linkability of the same context to the historical period in question and its symbolism, the number of participants, the insistent repetition of gestures, suitable to give concreteness to the danger of “emulation” inherent in the crime according to the principles enunciated by the Constitutional Court”. On the other hand he adds that «the commemorative character does not automatically imply a neutralization of the crime».
The defenders of the 22 defendants – the lawyers Antonio Mereu, Milena Mura, Patrizia Marcori, Gabriele Satta, Pierluigi Olivieri, Sophie Nurra And Bachisio Basoli – reiterated their requests for acquittal, maintaining that a “concrete danger” of reorganization of the Duce’s party could not be identified. Rather, it was a “memorial ceremony.”
The trial was adjourned until October for counsel’s hearing Agostinangelo Marrasthen scheduled replies and sentence.
