Italy. Dismissed criminal lawsuit against reporter who had said: I saw Mafia near Milan

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The freelance journalist was accused of defamation for a public speech by the major of the Municipality of  Abbiategrasso which territory was quoted

OSSIGENO July 27^th 2024 – “There is no case to answer”. With this formulation, the broadest possible, stating that the accusations are not substantial, the Judge for preliminary investigations of Crotone, Elisa Marchetto, dismissed the criminal proceedings for defamation against the freelance journalist Sara Manisera, who was defended by the Legal Aid Desk of Ossigeno from the lawsuit filed in September 2022 by the Mayor of Abbiategrasso, Cesare Francesco Nai, for aggravated defamation. The lawsuit referred to the fact that she had said publicly: “In Abbiategrasso, in the province of Milan, I saw criminal elements  enter the municipality, participate in public contracts, and above all in the concrete sector, because one thing that the mafia likes a lot is concrete and shopping centres”. The judge accepted the defence’s thesis, represented by the lawyer Andrea Di Pietro, on behalf of the Legal Desk of Ossigeno per l’Informazione, which operates in collaboration with Media Defence.

THE JOURNALIST commented on the news as follows: “I am very happy with this dismissal because it demonstrates once again how widespread the lawsuits are aimed at silencing the voices most critical, be they journalists or activists, of those in power. I thank Ossigeno per l’Informazione that accompanied and defended me over these two years pro bono, a fundamental element for an independent journalist. And finally, thanks to all of civil society that has taken action and mobilized in defence of the right to be informed”.

The journalist had reacted to the lawsuit  with  surprise and emphasized that she had not accused the administrators of Abbiategrasso of being involved in the mafia, having used the word ‘comune’ to indicate the area of the municipality. Being unable to count on a publisher or others to cover the costs of defence, she had asked for and obtained free legal aid from Ossigeno per l’Informazione, which has been working for nine years in collaboration with the English NGO Media Defence to help journalists, bloggers, and rights defenders who are subjected to frivolous, specious, and unfounded lawsuits which force them to face very burdensome defence costs in relation to their personal income.

THE CONTEXT – When she pronounced the phrase that was the subject of the lawsuit, Sara Manisera had just received the Diego Tajani Award precisely for her civil commitment. The ceremony was also attended by the public prosecutor of Catanzaro Nicola Gratteri, the writer Antonio Nicaso, and the mafia expert Isaia Sales, all of whom  also received awards  for their civil commitment.

Sara Manisera, in a long speech to the students present, invited them to protect the environment and defend their area and had spoken of her personal experience. She underlined two points: firstly the mafias do not operate only in Calabria, but everywhere, even in northern Italy and secondly they invest and launder part of their illicit proceeds in building speculation, blanketing the land with concrete. Therefore, she added, to defend oneself from mafia infiltration the first thing to do is to defend the environment. She had mentioned the area of Abbiategrasso as it is far from Calabria, being on the outskirts of Milan.

OSSIGENO has classified this lawsuit  as a reckless and intimidating action aimed at limiting participation in public debate (SLAPP) and today expresses satisfaction with the preliminary investigative judge’s decision to dismiss the case, on the Prosecuting Magistrate’s proposal, with this reasoning: “The statements are completely unsubstantial and general and therefore unsuited to harm anyone’s reputation”. Ossigeno points out that this is yet another groundless  lawsuit filed by a mayor using public money against a citizen for expressing opinions with which he disagrees. There are many public officials  who make casual use of the right to sue, as demonstrated by the case studies of Ossigeno which is examining  the phenomenon.

THE SENTENCE has the merit of explaining as clearly as possible that those who participate in the public debate can legitimately express criticisms and opinions by generically associating the name of a municipality with mafia activities, as the journalist did in the speech she gave on the 8^th June 2022, in Cutro, in the province of Crotone, during a public meeting on the occasion of the ‘Diego Tajani’National Youth Awards.

WHEN CRITICISM IS NOT DEFAMATORY – The public prosecutor wrote in the request for dismissal:

In the complaint “there is no case to answer and the proceedings must be dismissed as in the event of a trial it is not conceivable to arrive  at a conviction for the reported fact or other criminal facts…. In this case, the statement uttered by the defendant during her speech at the public event “Diego Tajani National Award” appears to be completely generic and not directed at specific or determinable subjects, given that the comments in the speech were not specific in time, with the consequence that the municipal administrators representing the Municipality of Abbiategrasso to whom the phrase allegedly defamatory was addressed cannot be physically  identified … From this derives the absolute indeterminacy of the offended persons, who cannot be understood to be identified indiscriminately and indeterminately in all the citizens of the Municipality of Abbiategrasso or in the municipal administrators who have succeeded one another over time”. ASP

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She says: “I saw the mafia enter”. Sued by the Municipality, she will be assisted by Ossigeno