A trial pitting far-right Italian government leader Giorgia Meloni against investigative journalist Roberto Saviano opened on Tuesday, with the anti-mafia author charged with defamation for insulting her in 2020 over his stances on migrants.
Ms Meloni’s then-opposition Fratelli d’Italia party swept to power last month after a landslide election victory prompted in part by its pledge to halt the influx of migrants into Italy.
In a brief statement to the court, Roberto Saviano called Ms Meloni’s attacks on NGOs that save lives at sea “inhumane”.
Mr. Saviano, best known for his international bestseller on the mafia, “Gomorrah”, faces up to three years in prison.
Ms. Meloni, traveling to the Indonesian island of Bali for the G20, was not present at the hearing.
The case dates back to December 2020 during a political program during which Mr. Saviano was asked to comment on the death, during a shipwreck, of a six-month-old baby from Guinea.
The infant, Joseph, was one of 111 migrants rescued by the Open Arms aid ship, but died before he could receive medical treatment.
In a video shot by lifeguards and shown to Mr Saviano on the show, the baby’s mother can be heard crying.
The writer then pointed the finger at Ms Meloni and Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Anti-Immigration League, now a member of his coalition government: “I just want to say to Meloni, and to Salvini, you are bastards! How did you you could?”.
Ms Meloni had said in 2019 that humanitarian NGO ships that rescue migrants “should be sunk”, while Mr Salvini, as interior minister the same year, had blocked the arrival of such ships in Italy.
The latter also wanted to be associated with the trial on Tuesday as a civil party.
“an infamy, inhuman”
In a text read to reporters outside the court after the hearing, Mr Saviano said he used the term “bastard” to point out the damage caused by the “lies” of Ms Meloni and Mr Salvini regarding humanitarian NGOs.
“How could you have been so thoughtless to isolate, dirty, transform humanitarian ships into pirate ships,” he said to the media.
“Letting people drown is not a political opinion. Discrediting humanitarian ships is not a political opinion, it is infamy, and above all it is inhumane,” added Saviano.
Writers’ association PEN International, which defends freedom of expression, this week urged Ms Meloni, in an open letter, to withdraw her complaint.
For the writer, under police protection since the publication of “Gomorra” due to threats from the Neapolitan Camorra mafia, the proceedings against him are aimed at “intimidating one to intimidate a hundred”.
Press freedom groups say such trials are symbolic of a culture in Italy in which public figures, often politicians, intimidate journalists with repeated lawsuits.
Luca Libra, Ms Meloni’s lawyer, said for his part that there was no desire to “intimidate” anyone.
His client “is just a woman who was insulted (…) on television in front of millions of viewers”, he added.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 12.
Italy is ranked 58th in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, the lowest level in Western Europe.
Tuesday’s trial is not the only one Mr. Saviano faces for defamation. He was sued in 2018 by Matteo Salvini after calling him “Il Ministro della Malavita”, or underworld minister. This trial is due to begin in February.
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Italy: journalist Saviano tried for defamation of Giorgia Meloni