Turin prosecutors on Wednesday opened
a probe into apology of Fascism against the owner of a
publishing firm close to neoFascist group CasaPound which has
spurred a leftwing boycott of this week's Turin Book fair.
The city of Turin and the Piedmont regional government on
Tuesday filed a Fascism complaint against Francesco Polacchi,
33, owner of the Altaforte publishing house, who is also
regional coordinator of the far-right group in Lombardy.
The probe is into several of Polacchi's recent statements
including "I am a Fascist", "antifascism is the real ill of this
country", and "Mussolini is the best ever Italian statesman".
Also Wednesday, the book fair organisers announced that
Altaforte would exhibit in a "protected space" after several
left-leaning and anti-fascist writers and publishers protested
against its presence at the event, many of them saying they
would no longer be attending.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant
and Euroskeptic League party, recently published a book of
interviews with Altaforte.
Asked about the boycott by writer and teacher Christian
Raimo, writers' collective Wu Ming, essayist Carlo Ginzburg and
cartoonist Zerocalcare, Salvini said "culture comes from
everywhere".
On Wednesday Salvini said he did not know Polacchi when shown
a photo of him with the publisher and other people.
"I have photos taken with hundreds of people. How can I
possibly know them all'" he said.
Asked about his book, the minister said "I do the interviews,
I get zero euros, and I don't know what the publishing house is.
"Is that against the law? No. So where's the problem?".
The Turin chapter of the ruling anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S), the League's partner in national government, on
Tuesday called on the book fair to bar Altaforte.
"The Fair must be the space where we celebrate tolerance and
resistance to neoFascist and authoritarian drifts, the public
moment where we can wage war with the force of words and
arguments," the M5S chapter said.
"But is can be this on one condition only: the exclusion of
Altaforte and Polacchi".
"Any intermediate way, any compromise would mark for the Fair
a loss on the cultural level that we cannot accept," said M5S
Turin council whip Valentina Sganga.
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