He called Sangiuliano “Nicola Cosentino’s gallop”. Saviano acquitted of defamation charges. The minister’s lawyer: “We will appeal”

Roberto Saviano he did not defame Gennaro Sangiuliano. This was established by the Court of Rome which rejected the request of the then director of Tg2 (now Minister of Culture) who had asked for damages for defamation via social networks for two posts by the writer dated 31 October 2018. “The proposed claim by the plaintiff – reads the sentence of the court – must be rejected”. In the posts under accusation, Saviano had appealed to Sangiuliano as a “galoppino of Nicholas Cosentino“, overshadowing the accusation that the then director of Tg2 had reached this position thanks to the favors of the former undersecretary of Berlusconi, later condemned as a referent of the Camorra. But according to the judges of the Capital, Saviano’s accusation “cannot be considered a false fact”, therefore for the Minister of Culture there will be no compensation for damages because the writer’s words fall within the right of criticism.

Saviano: “I wasn’t lying about Sangiuliano”

“The Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano took me to trial believing that I had harmed his integrity, but this was not the case and the Civil Court of Rome agreed with me. Indeed: he agreed entirely with me!”, he writes on social media Saviano commenting on the sentence. And he adds: “I wasn’t lying when I also recognized Nicola Cosentino among the political godfathers of Gennaro Sangiuliano and among the architects of his fortunes. Giorgia Meloni – it is not a detail, even if today it passes over in silence – she was Youth Minister in 2008, in the same government and in the same coalition as Nicola Cosentino, definitively sentenced to 10 years in prison for having been the political referent of the clan of the Casalesi”.

Then Saviano asks: “Does Giorgia Meloni have nothing to say about it? Will there be some journalist able to nail her to her responsibilities, political of course, but enormous? I fear that no one – except myself, who has already been sued – will ask I account to Meloni of his political closeness to those who brought the Camorra into government, a closeness for which I feel disgust”. And he concludes: “But the circle closes: I am under guard because threatened by the Casalesi clan and on trial because the premier, who with the contact person of the Casalesi clan has been in government, has decided to sue me and bring a civil action. It is useless to wonder why this government hasn’t yet activated the parliamentary anti-mafia commission… It would be a rhetorical question. I feel pity for our country and a deep disgust because all this seems to be our normality by now”.

Sangiuliano’s reply

Sangiuliano’s lawyer also comments on the sentence of the Civil Court of RomeSilverio Sicawho tells Ansa: “I say this ironically, the sentence is instructive because it says that one can speak of ‘galoppino’ without causing offense, as the term would be a harsh, pungent but permitted political criticism and all the negative connotations disappear “.

For the lawyer of the Minister of Culture: “It seems that in this regard Saviano enjoys a privilege compared to other Italians. We specifically asked the judge to verify a previous history regarding the relations between the minister and Nicola Cosentino, which not only were not cordial but of hostility, and this was not done.It is given as a well-known fact that Sangiuliano was in continuity with Cosentino, up to the definition of ‘galoppino’ and the fact of having asked to demonstrate with a letter that on the contrary, the report was one of ill will. All of this is unfounded and offensive – concludes Sica – and for this reason we will go to appeal, hoping to find a judge less willing to push the right of criticism up to the definition of a helper”.