Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni repeated on Tuesday that two members of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party should not resign over an alleged leak of sensitive information regarding the case of Alfredo Cospito.
Alfredo Cospito is an anarchist leader who has been on hunger strike for over 100 days against the tough jail regime he is being held under. His case has caused unrest on the streets of Italy as well as in the country’s parliament.
The two FdI MPs in question are Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove, and his flatmate Giovanni Donzelli. The latter is a member of the Copasir parliamentary committee that oversees Italy’s intelligence services.
They are at the centre of a huge political row with the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD).
How it all started
This row broke out when Donzelli revealed in the Lower House last week that Cospito had talked to mafia bosses about getting the 41 bis regime abolished. He also mentioned that four PD lawmakers had visited Cospito in jail.
Delmastro was the source of the information. However, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said the information was sensitive but not classified.
Delmastro fuelled the row on Friday by saying the PD lawmakers had given in to Cospito’s demand they meet other people being held under the 41 bis, including two mafia bosses, as a condition for the encounter with him.
“The PD will have to explain that bow to the mafiosi to the public,” Delmastro said in an interview with local daily newspaper ‘Il Biellese’. As a result, the PD said it would take legal action against Delmastro and Donzelli.
No need for resignation – Meloni
Meloni reiterated on Tuesday, “I don’t think there is a need for (their) resignation. The prosecutor’s office is doing its job,” she added, “and the Ministry of Justice has repeatedly said that they were not documents covered by secrecy. And it seems to me that this sensitive information was already present in the newspapers.”
This is why, she continued, “I have no reason to say that what is in the press cannot go to Parliament”.
Meloni further said: “The state cannot come to terms with those who threaten it, this applies to the mafia yesterday and to anarchists today.” This amid mass protests and acts of vandalism by Cospito supporters in Italy and abroad.
