The European Parliament on
Tuesday lifted immunity from prosecution from Northern League
MEP Mario Borghezio due to his April 29, 2013 attacks on then
Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge during an interview on
Radio24.
Borghezio said the move was a political one.
"This parliament has handed over to the justice system an
MEP guilty only of making statements that were disliked by most"
of the assembly, he said immediately after the plenary session.
In April 2016, Borghezio was ordered to stand trial by a
Milan court on charges of spreading "ideas based on racial and
ethnic hatred".
Cecile Kyenge, who is now also a member of the European
Parliament, said that "racism can never be a tool of political
struggle. Those who make use of it disgrace the institutions and
do not have the right to any immunity."
"A member of the European Parliament," she added in a
statement, "who shows scorn and hatred on the basis of my skin
color did not offend only me, but also the values of European
institutions and all those who do not" discriminate on the basis
of race, religion or gender.
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