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The “fantastic world” of frivolous lawsuits against journalists has reached unimaginable horizons with a case involving the newspaper Basilicata24 and its director, Giusy Cavallo. Because, it seems impossible and instead it happened, it happens that the colleague receives a notice of investigation for a defamation complaint through the press that was allegedly filed by the former president of the Basilicata Region Marcello Pittella (for an article written in 2014); that her colleague is summoned by the police and that her computer is cloned. And it turns out, after the file is archived with the crime changed from defamation to slander, that Pittella had never sued Giusy Cavallo. Pure avant-garde.
THE FACTS. On May 30, 2016, i Potenza Carabinierion mandate of Prosecutor’s Office of Catanzaronotify journalist Giusi Cavallo, director of Basilicata24, of a notice of investigation for defamation through the press against Marcello Pittella, former president of the Basilicata Region, for an article dated October 29, 2014 written with Michele Finizio. Only Cavallo is accused, not Finizio.
Pittella, however, claims to have never filed a complaint against Basilicata24, raising doubts about the legitimacy of the accusation. On May 30, Cavallo is summoned by the Carabinieri, who clone her computer despite her objections. The operations last from 11:00 to 17:00, and the journalist is detained without being able to go to the bathroom.
In June 2019, the case was closed with the crime changed from defamation to slander. It was discovered that Pittella had never sued Cavallo and that the incriminating article did not contain falsehoods, confirming that the complaint was unfounded. The prosecutor who opened the case would therefore have committed an irregularity, based on a non-existent complaint.
Basilicata24 publicly apologizes to Pittella and announces an in-depth investigation into the matter, denouncing a possible abuse by the Catanzaro Prosecutor’s Office, given that the accusation originated from a judge in Potenza.
At this link the details of the story: https://www.basilicata24.it/2024/06/storie-incredibili-chiediamo-scusa-a-marcello-pittella-138044/
What happened to Basilicata24 is disturbing to say the least. We live in a country in which gag complaints are multiplying, which serve no other purpose than to limit the sacrosanct right (and duty) of journalists to exercise freedom of the press, with actions, in the vast majority of cases, unfounded or disproportionate and often pursued by those in power.
But receiving a complaint, seeing one’s work (all of it, not just that relating to the specific article) violated without the complaint ever being initiated by the interested party is even more worrying. The new frontier of control.
