The sentence: € 200 fine for slapping a journalist

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This is the modest price attributed by a judge in Calabria for the attack on Paolo Orofino in 2014 while doing his job. Ossigeno comments on the outcome.

Whacking a journalist in a public square in Calabria costs a fine of 200 euro plus 200 euro of compensation for moral damage plus 1700 euro of court costs. These are the sums that the Court of Paola (Cosenza) provided for in the judgement which sentenced Pietro Calvano on January 23^rd 2020, six years after the event, for whacking the journalist Paolo Orofino of the Calabrian newspaper Quotidiano della Calabria (now called Quotidiano del Sud).

The Court expressly acquitted Francesco Loizzo because of the limited impact of the gesture in trying to prevent Orofino from taking a photo. The journalist had filed a civil action in the proceedings.

The attack dates back to 2014. Orofino was accompanying his colleague Sandro Ruotolo, at the time the correspondent of the “Public Service” television programme. The two journalists were looking for a lawyer involved in an investigation into some lucrative consultancies at the provincial health agency of Cosenza.

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