Rome, 24 July (LaPresse) – Lawyer Fabrizio Gallo, the trusted legal representative of Mauro Caroccia and Miriam Caroccia, has announced that later today he will file a brief with the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office containing all the chat messages between Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove and his client, requesting their immediate inclusion in the case file. The lawyer reiterates that, on this point, Parliament cannot refuse access to the evidence in this specific case. These chat logs, the lawyer explains in a statement, are of “fundamental importance in proving my clients’ innocence regarding the alleged offence and point to the true owner of the business”. Moreover – the lawyer continues – the legal issue involves a conflict between the inviolable right to a defence (Article 24) and the right to parliamentary immunity (Article 68(3)). Parliamentary immunity, as stated in a ruling by the Constitutional Court which had already ruled on the matter in 2007, cannot take precedence over a citizen’s right to a defence, particularly when the production of such chat records is favourable to the suspect. In the present case, we are dealing with two related situations (an ordinary citizen and a Member of Parliament) rather than ‘co-defendants’; consequently, if evidence is favourable to the citizen, it will certainly not be prejudicial to the Member of Parliament, thereby undermining the rationale required to assert immunity.” Gallo concludes by emphasising that “parliamentary immunity cannot be transformed into a personal privilege, and it cannot be permitted that evidence favourable to the accused – involving only third parties who have communicated with a Member of Parliament – should be excluded, thereby causing serious prejudice to the citizen under investigation”.
Caroccia’s lawyer: “Delmastro’s chat logs submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office today ‘prove his innocence’”
Rome, 24 July (LaPresse) – Lawyer Fabrizio Gallo, the trusted legal representative of Mauro Caroccia and Miriam Caroccia, has announced that later today he will file a brief with the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office containing all the chat messages between Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove and his client, requesting their immediate inclusion in the case file. The lawyer reiterates that, on this point, Parliament cannot refuse access to the evidence in this specific case. These chat logs, the lawyer explains in a statement, are of “fundamental importance in proving my clients’ innocence regarding the alleged offence and point to the true owner of the business”. Moreover – the lawyer continues – the legal issue involves a conflict between the inviolable right to a defence (Article 24) and the right to parliamentary immunity (Article 68(3)). Parliamentary immunity, as stated in a ruling by the Constitutional Court which had already ruled on the matter in 2007, cannot take precedence over a citizen’s right to a defence, particularly when the production of such chat records is favourable to the suspect. In the present case, we are dealing with two related situations (an ordinary citizen and a Member of Parliament) rather than ‘co-defendants’; consequently, if evidence is favourable to the citizen, it will certainly not be prejudicial to the Member of Parliament, thereby undermining the rationale required to assert immunity.” Gallo concludes by emphasising that “parliamentary immunity cannot be transformed into a personal privilege, and it cannot be permitted that evidence favourable to the accused – involving only third parties who have communicated with a Member of Parliament – should be excluded, thereby causing serious prejudice to the citizen under investigation”.
