Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has decided to put one of Italy's best-known investigative journalists on trial, the latter announced, in the second such action since taking office last month.
Emiliano Fittipaldi, who works for the left-wing newspaper "Domani", and the newspaper's director, accuses Stefano Feltre of distorting the facts in an article published last year indicating that Meloni, who was leading her right-wing party, tried to help a friend win a government tender during the Corona pandemic.
Meloni, whose Fratelli d'Italia party was in the opposition at the time, denied this and filed a lawsuit.
Fittipaldi said that a judge in Rome decided last week to hold a trial, and Meloni's lawyer indicated that the start date for the trial was set for July 10, 2024.
He explained that he had conveyed "only correct information" and promised that he and the newspaper would continue investigations, including in files he described as "embarrassing."
The decision to prosecute Fittipaldi coincided with the start of the trial of the famous anti-mafia writer and journalist Roberto Saviano, at the instigation of Meloni, on charges of defamation for his criticism of the prime minister's position on the immigrant file.
"It is normal for an investigative journalist to be prosecuted in Italy," he told Fittipaldi, known for revealing information about scandals in the Vatican.
He commented, "But it is the first time that I will be tried in the face of a prime minister who has great influence compared to an opposition journalist."
Fittipaldi mentioned in his article how Meloni contacted Domenico Arcuri, the special government commissioner responsible for combating the Covid epidemic, to ask the name of a friend who was participating in soliciting offers to buy masks.
According to the newspaper, Meloni confirmed that she had contacted the commissioner, but denied that she had tried to influence his decision.
Meloni and her lawyer accuse the newspaper of "seeking a misleading and defamatory headline".
Meloni's attorney, Luca Libera, said the lawsuit was "the result of a skilfully worded article publishing unsubstantiated defamatory allegations."
According to the latest figures published by the National Institute of Statistics, in 2017, 9,500 defamation lawsuits were filed against journalists that year.
In Italy, the law punishes the media in defamation lawsuits, with imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.
The Italian Constitutional Court had called on members of parliament in 2020 and 2021 to reformulate legislation in this field, noting that prison sentences in such cases are unconstitutional.