120

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is suing Placebo singer Brian Molko for defamation after he called her a fascist and a racist during a gig in Turin last month, Italian media report.

Mr Molko launched his expletive-filled rant from the stage of the Sonic Park festival.

Prosecutors in Turin opened an investigation into Mr Molko soon after.

Ms Meloni has not commented publicly about the issue although the BBC has approached her team for a reaction.

Videos from the Placebo concert posted on social media show Mr Molko shouting an expletive about the prime minister followed by the words "fascist, racist" in Italian, to cheers from the audience.

A few days later, sources told Italian news agency Ansa that prosecutors in Turin had opened an investigation into the incident for "defamation of [public] institutions".

Ms Meloni is leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and heads Italy's most right-wing government since World War Two. She has filed defamation lawsuits in the past. Last year, she initiated legal action for aggravated criminal defamation against the editors of Domani newspaper.

Domani alleged Ms Meloni had tried to help an MP from her own party win a government contract to procure face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Meloni rejected the allegation and sought damages of €25,000 (£21,500) from the paper. The trial is set to start in July 2024.

She also filed a defamation lawsuit against Roberto Saviano, a journalist and the author of Gomorrah, for calling her a "bastard" during a TV interview in 2020 in which he denounced her for attacks on migrant rescue NGOs.

The trial has been adjourned until October. If found guilty, Mr Saviano could face up to three years in jail.

Under Italian law, some defamation cases can be criminal and carry a custodial sentence.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] SignorPao@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Meloni and her buddies can simultaneously abuse suing when someone criticizes them and complain about other people suing them for "political reasons". The Schrödinger fascist.

this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
120 points (97.6% liked)

World News

39034 readers
1043 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS