The Italian court began this Tuesday (15) the trial of journalist and best-selling writer Roberto Saviano, accused of defamation by Giorgia Meloni, current prime minister.
The author of “Gomorrah” — an investigative tour de force about the Neapolitan mafia that sold millions of copies and was adapted for film and TV — could face up to three years in prison if convicted, although most likely he is forced to pay a fine of up to €500 (about R$2,770), among others.
The case dates back to December 2020, when Saviano attacked the then leader of the Brothers of Italy party and another leader of the Italian far-right, Matteo Salvini, for their anti-immigration positions. Commenting on the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea denied medical treatment after the refugee boat he was on was banned from docking in Italy, Saviano exclaimed: “I can only say to Meloni and Salvini: bastards! do something like that?”
The previous year, Meloni had said that ships belonging to humanitarian NGOs that rescue migrants “should sink”. Salvini, Minister of the Interior at the time, had prohibited these vessels, which can spend days adrift looking for a port, to disembark in Italian territory.
Intellectuals expressed solidarity with the writer on social media. Meanwhile, organizations that defend freedom of the press and expression, including PEN International, have called on the prime minister to drop the charges. “Moving forward with this lawsuit sends an alarming message to all journalists and writers in the country, who will stop speaking freely for fear of reprisals,” PEN denounced.
Under police protection since the publication of “Gomorrah” due to threats from the mafia, Saviano claims that the trial is just an attempt at intimidation. “Intimidate one to intimidate a hundred,” he says, adding that the “passivity and inertia of the Italian government and parliament” are “complicit with the enemies of press freedom.” “What should I apologize for? For doing my duty by criticizing the powerful, as all intellectuals should do?” he asked.
The writer is still the target of two other accusations of defamation – by Salvini, now deputy prime minister, and Gennaro Sangiuliano, minister of Culture.
The hearing was scheduled by the ninth section of the Criminal Court in Rome and will be presided over by Judge Roberta Leoni. Meloni, who is in Bali, Indonesia, to attend the G20 heads of state summit, will not be present at the hearing. A spokesman for the prime minister’s party did not respond to the report’s requests for comment.
The start of the legal battle between the author and the prime minister unfolds against a backdrop of growing disputes between the far-right that has taken control of the European country and migrant rescue NGOs. Italian authorities accuse the entities’ ships of acting illegally, and last week, they prevented such a vessel from docking in their territory. The episode culminated in a diplomatic row with France after the government of Emmanuel Macron decided to welcome adrift immigrants.
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