Bologna Mayor Virginio Merola is
being investigated on charges of abuse of office after he
ordered running water provided to two buildings squatted by
indigent families, the prosecutor's office said Wednesday.
The building - one an apartment complex that was occupied
beginning in March last year, the other a former headquarters of
Telecom phone company squatted as of December - are located not
far from one another in an outlying district.
Depriving people of water, no matter who they are "is a
violation of human rights," said the mayor, who is from the
ruling center-left Democratic Party (PD).
The squatters lived in "dangerous hygienic and sanitary
conditions, and it is my duty as mayor to intervene," Merola
said.
His lawyer added that Merola's decision was driven "by the
need to protect the constitutionally guaranteed rights of
vulnerable subjects, such as the minors involved".
The mayor might be found culpable under a measure
introduced by former transport and infrastructure minister
Maurizio Lupi, which prohibits utilities being provided to
illegally occupied buildings.
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