Acquitted. This was the judges' decision in the trial of Roberto Saviano, accused by Matteo Salvini of calling him "minister of evil" in 2018 when he was head of the Interior Ministry. The act, the Rome court ruled, did not constitute a crime.

"Words carry weight, and the words of the Minister of Underworld, elected in Rosarno (Calabria) with the votes of those who die for the 'Ndrangheta, are the words of a mafioso. The mafia threatens. Salvini threatens," the journalist wrote in response to several posts in which Salvini criticized the bodyguard he has been living under for twenty years. A quote from historian and politician Gaetano Salvemini, who addressed Giovanni Giolitti in 1909.

"Salvini literally persecuted me for years, campaigning on me," the writer commented today. "Above all, you'll remember, he kept declaring that he would remove my security detail. This ruling shows us that he had considered handing me over to the clans. Anyone who demands the removal of security details for those who are being escorted by the state, without even providing a reason, is agreeing to hand the person over to the clans. For me, this ruling, above all, underscores this."

Then the dedication to "Gaetano Salvemini, because Gaetano Salvemini has been quoted so many times today and he would have been pleased to hear that his words still instill so much fear in those in power today."

(Unioneonline/D)

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