Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, who had said Rome should “repatriate the migrants and sink the boats that saved them”, sued Saviano for defamation and last year a judge in Rome decided that the author should be tried. Saviano, who has been living under police escort and hiding from the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, since 2006 after receiving threats from mobsters following the publication of his book Gomorrah, faces up to three years in prison. Meloni’s action came after the author, in 2020, was asked on the political TV chatshow Piazzapulita about a comment about the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea after a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean. Including in his remarks the leader of the far-right Northern League, Matteo Salvini, who as interior minister introduced a decree imposing fines of up to €50,000 (£44,000) on NGO rescue boats that bring people to Italy, Saviano said: “Just I want to tell Meloni and Salvini, you bastards! How could you?” “I’m sick of seeing this disgusting Saviano speculation,” Meloni responded after Saviano’s televised appearance. “Is it normal to allow this serial hater to defame, without right of reply, people not present on the talk show? I have already asked my lawyers to take legal action against him.” In a previous interview with the Guardian, Saviano, who has repeatedly criticized the treatment of migrants in Italy, said: “If I condemn, I will answer for my words, but I will never regret losing my peace of mind and maybe even many readers for the defense of the voiceless”. Many authors and literary societies have expressed their support for Saviano. PEN International president Burhan Sönmez urged Meloni to drop all criminal defamation charges against Saviano and comply with Italy’s national and international obligations to defend freedom of expression. “We urge you to drop the case against him and do everything in your power to support investigative journalism and independent media,” Sonmez said in an open letter. “Defamation lawsuits exhaust their victims. They steal their time, their money, their vital energy. Mainly, they are punitive and can lead to self-censorship and discourage the investigative journalism that is so necessary in a healthy and functioning democracy. “They are a threat to freedom of expression – which is enshrined in Italy’s domestic and international human rights obligations. As Italy’s prime minister, bringing your case against him would send a chilling message to all journalists and writers in the country, who may no longer dare to speak out for fear of reprisals.” “Saviano is not alone,” Sonmez added. “We stand by him and will continue to campaign until all defamation charges against him are dropped and his right to peacefully express his views is upheld once and for all.” Tuesday’s hearing comes after Meloni, in the first test of her government’s migration policy, introduced a controversial anti-immigration plan that would see mostly male adult asylum seekers rescued in the central Mediterranean turned back by Italian authorities they consider themselves to be in need of international protection. Hundreds of people aboard two NGO rescue boats were prevented from disembarking and stuck on board for two days, with volunteers reporting people sleeping on decks as infections and fever-causing scabies spread.
