Acquitted even though they were found with four kilos of drugs in their car: "Dealing intent not proven, personal use possible." This is the summary of the Cagliari court ruling last March, which came under scrutiny by Alfredo Mantovano, Undersecretary of Justice and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-hand man. "An astonishing sentence," the prominent government official called it, criticizing the judiciary that issued it. And the controversy, with this latest chapter in the clash between politics and justice, may be just beginning.
The story took root between a conference on addictions, which included Mantovano among the guests, and the letters column of the Fatto Quotidiano.
At a recent public meeting, when justice reform was still a hot topic, the undersecretary had said: "Judicial authority is not an independent variable. This applies both to those 'drug' sentences, to stay on topic, which identify personal use for the possession of a few kilos of the substance, which have devastating consequences, and to the decisions of the supervisory judiciary, which appear to be a federalism of justice."
These statements sparked the indignation of the president of the Rome Court of Assizes of Appeal, Vincenzo Capozza: addressing Mantovano, he asked him, through Il Fatto, "to indicate the decisions that have upheld personal use in cases involving the possession of a few kilos of narcotics. One of two things," the judge stated: "if such rulings exist, the judges who issued them should be subject to disciplinary action and severe sanctions for their extravagant, indeed 'stupefying,' application of the rules. If they don't exist," he challenged, "I would feel justified in deeming the statement seriously defamatory of the entire judiciary."
<p>The article from the Unione Sarda that reported the story.</p>The undersecretary didn't wait: the response arrived today in a statement also published on the Ministry of Justice website. It contains a long list of verdicts that allegedly meet the contested criteria. Among them is the one issued by the Cagliari court: "On March 14, 2025, the Cagliari Court," Mantovano writes, "acquitted TK and SJ, arrested on November 20, 2024, for being found in possession of 3.975 kilos of marijuana, with a 15.9% THC content. According to the expert, this quantity is sufficient to package 22,387 doses; the Court, however, found no evidence that those 4 kilos of drugs were intended for sale to third parties." Mantovano refers to the ruling in the trial against Tarik Karmouchi and Stanko Jankovic, aged 22 and 23, both Sardinian-born but of foreign origin. They were represented by lawyers Emanuele Pizzoccheri and Alberto Marcias. They were arrested after the Carabinieri, following a pursuit, stopped them in a BMW 530 while carrying seven bags of marijuana, each containing 580 grams. The two defended themselves by claiming they had purchased cannabis light, while the dealer who sold it had raised concerns about possible contamination, given the high THC content.
The Court, however, argued that the Prosecutor's Office had failed to prove the intent to deal, given that the two young men did not have scales or other equipment at home. Hence the acquittal, with the expected appeal by Prosecutor Gilberto Ganassi.
The case could therefore go to appeal, but the first-instance ruling, for Mantovano, along with others he cited today, "encourages the distribution and trafficking of narcotics. I don't know if all this is a disciplinary matter: that's not my responsibility. Certainly, there's a problem of inadequate awareness of the gravity of the phenomenon." The new attack on the judges has served its purpose.