“Journalists who do their job end up on trial in San Marino”
“The trial of two journalists accused of prohibition of publication will begin on 8 September. The journalists Carlo Filippini Antonio Fabbri, News respectively and editor of the daily newspaper “L’informazione di San Marino”. The accusation: to have true news published, in full respect of continence and expository relevance. Being, however, evidently unwelcome to those in power, it must not be published.
But the most serious ana of this process, which has the flavor of an intimidating pressure on freedom of the press and the right of the press, is that access to the information then published in the articles is allowed following an official request by the journalist who, doing his job, asked to check and investigate the news.
Quick Facts: In April 2019, news emerged of an investigation into the president of the Central Bank of San Marino (BCSM), Catia Tomasetti, and a well-known Italian politician, Sandro Gozi, for a consultancy of 10 thousand euros per month in favor of the latter. The investigation into unfaithful administration, which had considerable resonance not only at the San Marino level but also in the Italian and international national media, was archived about a year later. There Central Bank sends a press release giving notice of the archiving, without disclosing the reasons. The journalist then decides to investigate the reasons for the dismissal of the case that had had a clamor story. He therefore asks to entrust the Criminal Chancellery of the Single Court of San Marino to be able to access the archived file, as required by law. The request is motivated by the editor who clearly explains the purpose of the journalistic investigation.
The file is given to him, subject to the authorization of the magistrate, with the exception of the parts covered by banking secrecy. From the consultation of the file, the journalist notes that the dismissal measure reports that for the investigator there were no criminal details for the indictment, but details of pre-eminent public interest emerge such as the onerousness of the advice, the statements of the members of the government of that time to which the president of BCSM, reporting that she was being investigated, told them that she had met the then head of the Italian secret services, talking with him about the San Marino banking system, and Italian political subjects. Now, that the top of the Central Bank of one country talks with the head of the secret services of another, it is a news of evident and primary interest made public, which the journalist and the newspaper have known, as well as the reasons for the filing of the survey that have been published.
Thus, for having done their job, the journalists were accused and indicted for “Publication of secret documents relating to criminal proceedings “. Now, apart from the fact that the San Marino law provides that the file of an archived proceeding is not secret at all, access to the file itself was authorized on the basis of a regular and official request presented to the Chancellery.
Everyone can evaluate how much honor the Ancient Land of Freedom does to send a trial of journalists who have done their job seriously exercising the right and duty to inform, enshrined in human rights and recognized in democratic states and also by the San Marino laws which, evidently , this time they have been put aside “.
Carlo Filippini and Antonio Fabbri