28 March 2008

Upside down World

Following my observations about an “ad personam” veto in relation to myself and the position of Minister of Justice, numerous, jumbled, even ridiculous declarations have been made by top politicians, especially from the Centre Left.

I’m publishing an article by Marco Travaglio who comments.



”If in Italy, the Authorities were serious bodies, we would need one to protect words. Against the abuse and the contortions that they suffer, against the dirty market that transforms them in good merchandise for all uses. For example: there’s a discussion about the idea whether or not to appoint Di Pietro as Minister of Justice, after Veltroni told Ms Bignardi that there’s no question of it. Each of us can think what we like, but – possibly - giving the reasons for our thoughts. This is not the case of Polito who said to QN:
“Di Pietro as Minister of Justice in a PD government is unthinkable. It’s like, on the other side, that you were thinking of having Previti as Minister of Justice. Previti and Di Pietro are two extremes in a war between politics and the magistracy, to which the PD is offering to put an end.” Let’s concentrate on the words: “Previti”, “Di Pietro”, “extremes” and “war”.
Previti is a convict, definitively sentenced to 7 and a half years for corrupting judges, having paid certain judges to buy two verdicts: the first got a non-deserved compensation payment of 1,000 billion from the State to friend Rovelli; the second got Mondadori for friend Berlusconi. Di Pietro is a former prosecutor, known for having conducted with some colleagues, the most important anti-corruption investigation in the history of Europe, by convicting 1200 white collar workers and saving the Country from financial and moral bankruptcy.
Di Pietro never dealt with Previti, as he resigned from the pool of judges in December 1994 whereas the “Toghe Sporche” {investigations labeled: Dirty Judicial Garments } started in Summer 1995. In what way would they be “extremes in a war between politics and the magistracy”? Which war? Declared by whom? Fought, won, lost or drawn by whom?

In the United States, the Governor of New York is the former prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani, well known for his investigations into the mafia and the white collar workers of Wall Street (see the film with Michael Douglas), who arrested a great number. Has anyone thought of comparing him to his former defendants, to saying that he is in relation to them at “an extreme in a war between the mafia/high finance and the magistracy”?

Toto would say: “But do me a favour, say what you watch”. On the same topic another thought giant has been exercising, Boselli, the one who uses Jesus for a reference to get De Michelis and Bobo Craxi re-elected: “Di Pietro is the symbol of the justice show. He cannot be the Minister of Justice.

What’s the meaning of “justice show”? Perhaps Di Pietro took part in a TV show during the time of “Mani Pulite”? He was never seen on TV. He never gave interviews to the newspapers (apart from one, very general one to Biagi).

Justice show is appropriate for Cogne, Rignano, Erba, Perugia, and Garlasco, that is the trials celebrated on the TV. Di Pietro ran his trials in the court room. In fact the guilty ones were discovered and sentenced.

Let Boselli say that he doesn’t like Di Pietro because he was responsible for the conviction of his best friends and they are not out yet. But what’s the point in talking about “justice show”? The fact is that, when you talk about justice, those who have no arguments, start off on automatic pilot and give air to the mouth with the usual phrases that have no meaning.

Don Gelmini, on trail for sexual molestation of 10 young women, commented the request of the Temi prosecutor to send him for trial thus: “It is the result of the media tempest that has accompanied the investigation”.

But the investigation was not accompanied by any media tempest, given that we knew something only when the investigation was over. The newspapers wrote about the notoriety of the defendant, and the seriousness of the accusations, but this is crime reporting, not a media tempest. And it cannot be the cause of the investigation, since it came after: it is the effect. "

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Justice