“As Tortora said, where were we?” Giovanni Toti, in his first press conference after the judicial blackmail that culminated in his resignation as governor of Liguria, recalls the barbarity against Enzo Tortora and embodies the political battle of the leader he grew up with, Silvio Berlusconi. Now, more than ever, Toti’s objective is the one left pending by the most persecuted former prime minister in Italy, who was put out of action by the red-shirted party. The former governor, who had to exchange his freedom for the task entrusted to him by the ballot box, reiterated yesterday that he was not involved in the protests: “I did not pocket a single euro for myself or my family”. He then hit out hard at issues of justice, like the Cav of the golden age, when he hoped for the separation of careers between magistrates and judges, in the name of rights that cannot be suspended with investigations used as a cudgel against political opponents. This is precisely what they did with Giovanni, who was kept under house arrest for 86 days under the pretext of the risk of repeating the crime linked to public office. A need for precaution identified for the European Championships, for the 2025 Regionals and which persists ad libitum until the governor’s resignation.
“We decided that it was more logical to give the floor back to the Ligurians, faced with an opposition that describes nine years of the best Liguria ever as a criminal story,” explained Toti. The former president clarified that “we did not avoid a discussion with the magistrates. As the Review wrote, we do not admit that what we did was a crime, and I regret that, but although I have understood what they are accusing me of, I continue to believe that I did not commit any crime. I cannot please them with that. A court will recognise him.” Following the tenuous relationship between politics and the judiciary, reflected in the excesses of which he was a victim, comes the system of accusations, timing, dynamics and imprisonment that removed him from the leadership of Liguria. Three months in which “I felt a deep sense of injustice and a certain impotence, including that of a political system that had allowed itself to be placed in a very subordinate position by the judicial system”. It is no coincidence that “for the first time it was written that the possibility of a repeat offence depended on the role held by someone elected by the citizens. Parliament must ask itself about this.”
And he makes it clear that concrete actions must accompany the comparison: «Politics is responsible for a broader reasoning: can a politician be kept under house arrest ad libitum? An intervention in the law is necessary. The magistrates apply the law, it is Parliament that must intervene to change it”. A change in which Toti himself wants to participate personally. In circles close to the former governor, there are rumors of Toti’s conviction to proceed quickly with the immediate trial, in order to demonstrate his non-involvement in the investigations and to arrive at Politics without blemish, so that he can contribute from Montecitorio to the battle for a radical reform of the justice system. In the meantime, he will work behind the scenes in the November Regional elections. «I have given everything I could: I will certainly give my support. Liguria is something that concerns me more than myself, but now the protagonists will be others», he declared. Among these, in yesterday’s meeting with his list in Genoa, Toti is said to have proposed his supporter, Ilaria Cavo, as a candidate for governor.
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.
