There was no defamation in Ruotolo’s interview with Carmine Schiavone

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The businessman Paolo Berlusconi had asked for damages of 1.5 million euro. Instead the civil court of Rome has ruled that he will have to reimburse 20,000 euro of legal costs.

In 2013 the businessman Paolo Berlusconi sued the journalist Sandro Ruotolo and the publisher of La7 accusing them of defamation in print and asking for damages of one million and 492,000 euro. Five years later on the 7th June 2018 the civil court of Rome has rejected the request and has ordered the businessman to reimburse the journalist and the publisher with 20,000 euro of trial expenses. The journalist declared himself to be satisfied.

The accusation – Berlusconi had cited them for the episode of the 29th December 2013 “Atomic Hell” of the programme Servizio Pubblico dedicated to “Terra dei Fuochi” in which Ruotolo interviewed the Mafian person who had turned state witness, Carmine Schiavone. They had alleged that the businessman was a partner in one of the companies which they held responsible for having allegedly buried toxic waste. Carmen Schiavone died in 2015.

RDM