Mario Roggero, a jeweler from Gallo di Grinzane, in the province of Cuneo, has been sentenced to 14 years and 9 months. He is accused of killing two robbers and wounding a third man after the robbery at his shop on April 28, 2021. The judges of the First Criminal Section of the Court of Cassation have ruled definitive. The judges rejected the appeal filed by the defendant's defense attorney. The Supreme Court therefore upheld the decision of the Turin Court of Assizes of Appeal in December last year . Roggero, now 72, is the jeweler from Grinzane Cavour (Cuneo) who on April 28, 2021, killed two robbers, 58-year-old Giuseppe Mazzarino and 44-year-old Andrea Spinelli, after the robbery at his shop. The gang's driver, Alessandro Modica, was injured but managed to escape.

Both in the first-instance trial in Asti and on appeal, the judges rejected the defendant's alleged claim of self-defense. Roggero chased the bandits, armed with a toy gun and a knife, into the parking lot after the robbery had already concluded, firing a series of shots from his pistol at their car. "The robbers' aggressive action was completely over," the appeal judges wrote in their ruling.

Matteo Salvini has spoken out on the Supreme Court ruling, making an appeal to President Mattarella . The Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the League party asked for it in a video on Instagram: "Now, together with so many of you, I will do everything possible to grant Mario a PARD . This is an appeal we are making directly to the President of the Republic. A pardon for an honest man, who at 72 years old does not deserve to share a cell with real criminals." He then recalled: "Many, so many of us are with Mario Roggero. A father, a grandfather, a husband, and a lifelong worker, who at 72 years old is sent to prison because he reacted to an assault, a theft, a robbery in his shop, the family business, with his wife and daughter present and at risk. I believe this sentence is profoundly unjust. We fought together for a new law on self-defense, which has spared many decent citizens suffering and imprisonment, but evidently this isn't enough, and we need to further expand the sacrosanct right to self-defense for those who are attacked. And we will do so. This will also include legally preventing compensation for damages awarded to the relatives of thieves injured or killed as a result of their crime.

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