Verona, “You have the brain of a protozoan” to the councilor: 7 haters on trial
I more “moderate” (so to speak) “limited themselves” (another euphemism) to calling him a “buffoon” on Facebook and addressing him on social media with phrases such as “you have the same intelligence as an earthworm” and “if I were your mother I’d slap you.” But the then city councilor of Verona Andrea Bacciga was pelted online with far more disrespectful definitions such as «Neanderthal face», «brain of a protozoan», «m face», «c muzzle», «imbecile», «c… », «you suck more than your face». Not to mention the “bare and raw” insults which we do not report here and which instead were fully reported to the judiciary with a complaint presented on 18 June 2019 by Bacciga himselfformer exponent of Battiti who later joined the ranks of the Northern League, criminal lawyer by profession, recently acquitted for the Roman salute addressed to some activists of «Non una di meno» in the courtroom.
The indictments
Three and a half years later, that sample of “outrageous expressions” addressed on the web to the former president of the municipal commission on safety now brings 7 haters to trial, of which the judge for preliminary investigations Carola Musio has ordered the forced indictment for aggravated defamation against Bacciga. The decision, the one just taken by the investigating judge, in partial discrepancy with the line of the Verona prosecutor’s office: in fact, at the end of the preliminary investigations, the prosecutor had asked for the archiving of all 12 Veronese initially under investigation. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, «the elements acquired during the investigations testify to the groundlessness of the news of the crime. Though offensive – reads the request for dismissal – the comments against Bacciga integrate a particularly tenuous defamation, considering the political context in which they were expressed, the not excessive bitterness and the occasional nature of the conduct.
The motivations
Bacciga and the facts now opposed the request for dismissal immediately solicited by the prosecutor they proved him right: assisted by his lawyer colleague Giuseppe Trimeloni, the former councilor obtained the compulsory indictment (which must be ordered by the prosecutor within 10 days) against the 7 most offensive “haters”, while for the remaining 4 (who used expressions less serious) the investigating judge Musio instead accepted the dismissal. It is the judge herself who motivates the order to bring the 7 most outrageous haters to trial: «The comments published by the aforementioned suspects are evidently harmful to Bacciga’s reputation – writes the magistrate — and therefore offensive, not being able in any way to be considered exempt from the right of political criticism”, above all because these are sentences and words “referring to characteristics physiques of the offended personlike “brain of a protozoan”, “face of a Neanderthal”, “you suck more than your face”».
The satisfaction
Satisfied of course Bacciga reaction: «As city councilor I received many insults, which never had anything to do with political criticism but which transcended into heavy personal and physical appearance denigrations, harming my reputation – he wrote on Facebook “At the time, therefore, I had decided to sue for defamation.” In thanking his lawyer who opposed the prosecutor’s request for dismissal, Bacciga defines the magistrate’s pronouncement as “an important signal for those who use social media as a tool of offense, just for the sake of mocking and outrage for freegoing beyond the limits of education and respect”.
The Corriere del Veneto newsletter
If you want to stay updated on Veneto news, subscribe to the free newsletter Courier of the Veneto. It arrives every day directly in your inbox at 12. Just click here.
December 7, 2022 (change December 7, 2022 | 11:03 am)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED