Venice. Reporter cites past affairs with mafia member and is sued

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At a public conference of the Anti-Mafia Commission, Maurizio Dianese recalled the corporate ties of a company in Eraclea, a town near Venice

OSSIGENO 21^st December 2022 – On the 14^th October 2019 a company in Eraclea (VE) specialized in the sale of flooring, Heraclia Pavimenti Srl, sued the journalist Maurizio Dianese, editor of the Gazzettino di Venezia, for defamation for something he said on the 19^th September 2019 at the conference “The mafias on the Venetian coast”organized by the National Anti-Mafia Commission, of which Dianese is a consultant.

On that occasion Maurizio Dianese said: “Until 2008 the company was owned by a person close to the Casalesi criminal clan, so by buying their products, we gave 30% of our money to the Casalesi”. Now, in December 2022, a lawsuit arrives before the justice of the peace of San Donà di Piave (Venice).

THE AFFAIR – Maurizio Dianese tells Ossigeno per l’informazione: “It is an intimidating lawsuit. Nothing of what I said is denied in the lawsuit also because I only reported an easily verifiable fact about a person who was a partner in the company. It’s an established fact, but it can’t be said.” Together with his lawyer, the journalist explained and argued this circumstance in a defence statement.

The journalists union of Veneto expressed solidarity with their colleague with a note: “Dianese was sued by the owner of a company in Eraclea which until 2008 counted among its partners one of the defendants in the investigation into the Casalesi clan which in 2019 led to the arrest of about fifty people by the Venice District Anti-Mafia Directorate. The trial is still on-going and has so far confirmed the accusations” (read here the full note). Solidarity with Dianese was also expressed by Andrea Zanoni, regional councillor of the Veneto Democratic Party, president of the Legality Commission (see here).

Ossigeno per l’informazione expresses solidarity with Maurizio Dianese and all those like him who are being sued for defamation for having expressed publicly in the area in which the events occurred, the political and corporate intertwining of entrepreneurial activities in which members of organized crime are involved, according to the findings of the investigations and judicial proceedings. Ossigeno has already dealt with similar episodes and hopes that the judge will recognize the recklessness and baseless nature of the accusations. GB