Iolanda Apostolico counters a counterattack on video from the Catania referee. Democratic Party: “State file”

Judge Iolanda Apostolico’s case comes before Parliament. The background is known: Yesterday, Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini published a video in which the Catania court judge was seen with a group of people at a demonstration in August 2018 to demand the disembarkation of migrants from the Diciotti ship. He shouted insults at the police. The person of interest, already in the sights of the centre-right for disapproving of the detention of some Tunisian immigrants held at the Pozzallo CPR, has never officially confirmed his existence.

However, according to Ansa, Apostolico explained to some of his colleagues that he was in the port of Catania to avoid possible clashes between the police and the demonstrators, who were mostly of Catholic origin. On the contrary, according to Salvini, it was a “far left” demonstration. The video created a big impact as expected. If Apostolico’s behavior rightly amounted to a lack of “impartiality”, the National Association of Magistrates, through its president Giuseppe Santalucia, invited “to evaluate the impartiality of the judges based on the measures taken and the reasons underlying them”. his motivations and, instead, his past are not to conceal the private life of a magistrate”.

Baldino (M5S): “Who shot the video?”

Meanwhile, the opposition is rising up and asking for a parliamentary question from Interior Minister Piantedosi, who is expected to report to Parliament next Wednesday. “Based on media reconstructions, it appears that the video released yesterday by Minister Salvini filming a Catania Apostolico judge at a demonstration in 2018 was filmed by an individual,” says M5s spokesperson Vittoria Baldino. person among the police officers”. At this point Baldino explains: “We want to know how the minister got these images and we will also ask this in the parliamentary question. I believe the government should clarify whether this is the result of a file action. “It was later announced that Minister Salvini intended to launch a political attack on a judge who issued a decision rejecting the government measure.”

And again: “Counsel for M5s says: “I do not go into the merits of the judge’s choice to attend a demonstration or the content of his judicial decision, but I think it would be very serious if these images became part of the substantive material. “A person who is kept by someone in an institution and transferred years later to a representative of another institution for the purpose of carrying out a political and personal attack.”


Democratic Party talks about “state file”

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has no doubts and speaks openly about the files. Pd Peppe’s deputy writes: “First, confidential information was seized from 41bis and distributed to attack political opponents. Now the use of videos from 5 years ago (hidden by whom) to attack a judge cannot justify any suspicious behavior.” Provenzano. “This is the state file. No one is safe.”

Antonio Misiani from the PD national secretariat also attacked the government. “Let’s summarize: Someone took and saved a video of a demonstration five years ago (August 25, 2018) highlighting the participation of the Apostolic judge (the right directly attacks him for not implementing the Cutro decree on immigration), and Deputy Prime Minister Salvini immediately posted the video on social media. Question 1: The video Who filmed it? Is there someone at the police cordon as some media claimed? Question 2: Who hid the video and forwarded it to the Deputy Prime Minister? Salvini (incidentally, the former Minister of Internal Affairs…) Question 3: President Meloni said that his deputy was trying to intimidate him and the entire judiciary from the Apostolic Office What does he think about the actual State file he prepared against the judge?”

In short, M5s and Pd are clearly on Apostolico’s side. As well as the National Association of Magistrates. President Giuseppe Santalucia, a guest at ‘Otto e mezzo’ in La7, explained that the demonstration in Catania “was not a demonstration against the government’s policies to combat illegal immigration, but a demonstration calling for the Minister of Internal Affairs, who did not participate in this demonstration, to reconsider.” Diciotti took some immigrants off his ship for days; “A demonstration that was not political but brought together the world of associations, even the church, was a humanitarian action rather than being against government policies.”

According to Santalucia, we should also ask ourselves where these images come from. “No one told us where that video came from, whether it was taken from the internet, whether it was broadcast on private television, or whether it was shot by the police, as can be seen from the way the shots were made. The order containing ‘taunting’ behind the police forces, this seems serious to me.”

League: “The real scandal is Apostolico’s behavior”

The attitude of the right-wing government is very different. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini hopes that “common sense and balance will prevail”, claiming that the Catania judge’s case “is a serious embarrassment for the institutions”.

According to Igor Iezzi, vice president and vice president of the union’s group, “While those on the left are screaming, trying to divert attention to something else, the real and only scandal is Dr. Apostolico’s behavior, which compromises his impartiality and credibility. We have seen it.” We read in the newspapers that he appreciated Salvini’s rudeness and took to the streets with the crowds who insulted the police. It’s hard to think there are alternatives to resignation,” Iezzi says.

Fdi: “This situation eliminates the impartiality of judges”

Fratelli d’Italia senator Raffaele Speranzon wants a disciplinary review instead. “If impartiality rightfully concerns members of the armed forces, it should, more importantly, concern judges who are called upon to decide on the freedom of citizens. In the video that has been circulating in the media for several days, Dr. Apostolico is seen taking an ideological position on an issue such as the immigration policies of the government for which he was later called to judge.” puts it clearly: “In this way, the impartiality that should be characteristic of a judge is clearly lost”.

“And the senator says: “And it remains a bit odd that then-Prime Minister Berlusconi and other center-right apologists, looking through the keyhole, are only now discovering the importance of separating the public life of a corporate agent from his private life. “The left never changes: double standards.”

Even Viva Matteo Renzi, the leader of Italia, expresses strong doubts about the opportunity to participate in this show. And in his enews he writes: “I do not think like Salvini on immigration, on the contrary, I am quite the opposite. But I believe that the Northern League minister is right to ask judges to guarantee maximum impartiality. And this judge cannot be considered impartial on the issue if he goes out into the street and participates in a political demonstration .”

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Source: Today IT

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