Mario Roggero, the jeweler who shot dead two thieves in Grinzane Cavour, in the province of Cuneo, on April 28, 2021, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for murder by the Assizes Court of Asti. The prosecutor asked for 14 years. Roggero, 68, shot two of the three robbers, also wounding the third. “Unfortunately, the sentence was very harsh, I completely disagree,” one of his lawyers, Dario Bolognesi, who announced the appeal, explained to LaPresse. “I believe it is a classic case of supposed self-defense”, highlighted the 68-year-old jeweler’s lawyer who recalled how all the reports “demonstrated the strong state of stress, even at a pathological level” to which Roggero was subjected after having suffered other robberies .
Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and deputy prime minister, immediately sided with Roggero: «Total solidarity with a 68-year-old man who, after a lifetime of commitments and sacrifices, defended his life and his work. Those who deserve prison should be other people, real criminals, not people like Mario.”
Even Franco Birolo, a tobacconist who in 2012 killed a thief who broke into his store and who was only finally exonerated in 2019 after a judicial process that lasted 7 years, commented to Adnkronos about Roggero’s 17-year sentence in the first instance: «Crime won , if we want to reward criminals, this is the system. They won, with substantial compensation for the victims’ families and a heavy sentence for the jeweler. Who comes out of this positively? – he asks -. If I’m a criminal and I’m going to rob other people’s houses, I have to keep in mind that I could risk something. The robbed person may also feel insecure or tired of similar episodes and may react. That’s what Roggero did, remembering the previous robbery in which he had been beaten and beaten, his bones were broken. He still had this nightmare, that every robbery attempt had this epilogue, and he defended himself. Maybe he overreacted, but you have to be in that situation to understand. I’m close to Mário. I spoke to him in the last few days, I will call him again to give him a word of comfort.”
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
