Milan, Aug. 31 (LaPresse) – Right-wing extremists who gather every year to commemorate Sergio Ramelli do not represent any “danger of reconstituting the disbanded Fascist Party,” nor are their actions “subversive of the democratic order.” Eighteen neo-fascists belonging to Lealtà e Azione, CasaPound and Movimento Nazionale – La Rete dei Patrioti have been cleared by the Milan court of charges of fascist demonstration under the Scelba Law, as well as propaganda and incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. The charges stemmed from their participation in the rally held, as every year, on April 29, 2023, in Milan in memory of the Front of Youth activist who was killed by a group of Avanguardia Operaia militants in 1975. The investigating judge, Rossana Mongiardo, accepted the prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis’ request to dismiss the case. According to the prosecutor, the conditions set out by the Joint Sections of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in its Jan. 18, 2024 ruling on the issues of the “calling of the present” and the “Roman salute” at public gatherings were not met to prosecute and convict the 18 far-right militants under investigation. “Neither before nor subsequently” to the Ramelli commemoration, the dismissal request accepted by the judge states, “were any actions recorded that could be classified as subversive of the democratic order,” and “there have never been sufficient grounds to identify elements suggesting that the democratic system of the Italian Republic could be concretely endangered in connection with the possible reconstitution of the Fascist Party.” The charge of incitement to commit crimes was also dismissed because, according to the prosecution, the “Roman salute” in that context was not a “gesture expressing an ideology of intolerance or discrimination,” but was intended to “commemorate a young man who, regardless of the content [of his political views], expressed his political beliefs at a difficult and highly conflictual moment in the history of the Italian Republic.”
Milan, 18 cleared over Roman salutes at Ramelli commemoration: “No fascist threat”
Milan, Aug. 31 (LaPresse) – Right-wing extremists who gather every year to commemorate Sergio Ramelli do not represent any “danger of reconstituting the disbanded Fascist Party,” nor are their actions “subversive of the democratic order.” Eighteen neo-fascists belonging to Lealtà e Azione, CasaPound and Movimento Nazionale – La Rete dei Patrioti have been cleared by the Milan court of charges of fascist demonstration under the Scelba Law, as well as propaganda and incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. The charges stemmed from their participation in the rally held, as every year, on April 29, 2023, in Milan in memory of the Front of Youth activist who was killed by a group of Avanguardia Operaia militants in 1975. The investigating judge, Rossana Mongiardo, accepted the prosecutor Alessandro Gobbis’ request to dismiss the case. According to the prosecutor, the conditions set out by the Joint Sections of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in its Jan. 18, 2024 ruling on the issues of the “calling of the present” and the “Roman salute” at public gatherings were not met to prosecute and convict the 18 far-right militants under investigation. “Neither before nor subsequently” to the Ramelli commemoration, the dismissal request accepted by the judge states, “were any actions recorded that could be classified as subversive of the democratic order,” and “there have never been sufficient grounds to identify elements suggesting that the democratic system of the Italian Republic could be concretely endangered in connection with the possible reconstitution of the Fascist Party.” The charge of incitement to commit crimes was also dismissed because, according to the prosecution, the “Roman salute” in that context was not a “gesture expressing an ideology of intolerance or discrimination,” but was intended to “commemorate a young man who, regardless of the content [of his political views], expressed his political beliefs at a difficult and highly conflictual moment in the history of the Italian Republic.”