The investigating judge of the Lucca court, Alessandro Dal Torrione, reserved the right to decide whether or not to dismiss the complaint of Paola Egonu, volleyball champion, against General Roberto Vannacci. At the center of the story are some sentences from the book of the newly elected to the European Parliament, where she wrote: “Even if Paola Egonu has Italian citizenship, it is evident that her somatic features do not represent her Italian nature…”. It will therefore take a few more days to understand whether the trial will begin or not. Attempts by the parties’ lawyers to reach a clarification were of no avail, with the volleyball player deciding not to submit the complaint and get to the bottom of it. To make the matter even more complicated, the decision of the investigating judge of the military court to reject the request to dismiss the complaint for the same matter. Vannacci himself was also present in the courtroom yesterday, together with his lawyers.
“We are here to explain our reasons – explains Vannacci before entering the room -. I have never been racist in my life, in fact I fought for those who had a different skin than mine. I hope that these reasons can come out. I didn’t believe that there was no hearing, I have nothing to complain about. The things I said are obvious, and I also wrote a letter of clarification, although I had already expressed my opinions, it is very clear in itself of superiority or inferiority. Indeed there is an exaltation of specific characteristics. Those who are not clear about their origins, I actually believe that it is something that can only do good if it shines through.”
“A rather quick hearing – adds the General’s lawyer, Massimiliano Manzo -. I only reiterated some concepts, such as the fact that to understand the story I believe it is necessary to read the book “Il Mondo al Contrario” in its entirety. There is no ‘Is there racism anywhere? Decision of the military court? They are two different things, there is a military discourse there, for profiles concerning racial hatred and perhaps Vannacci’s position when he wrote the book, but I repeat that they are distinct things. “.
Different position for Paola Egonu’s lawyer, Simone Facchinetti. “Paola would have liked to be there, but she is in Japan playing. She is very disappointed, angry and saddened by this affair – she says -. She never thought about dismissing the lawsuit. We tried, together with Vannacci’s lawyers, to find a solution without reaching this point, but the conditions were missing. There was never a real excuse, but rather clarifications that could only have been made for other purposes, the words themselves correspond to incitement to racial hatred, let’s see what will happen here. Egonu’s intent is certainly to send a social message, indeed, in this case it will be entirely donated to non-profit associations for the protection of social rights”.
Jacob Nathan
