(ANSA) - Rome, September 24 - Naples Mayor Luigi De
Magistris bemoaned his suspended 15-month sentence after he was
found guilty Wednesday of abuse of office while working on a
corruption case in his former role as a prosecutor.
De Magistris was indicted in 2010 for alleged involvement
in obtaining the telephone data of some MPs, including former
premier Romano Prodi, without the proper authorisation.
Rome prosecutors in May asked for the case against de
Magistris to be dropped. They argued he only had a secondary
role in the handling of this part of the so-called Why Not case
in the southern region of Calabria and should therefore be
acquitted.
In the same verdict Wednesday, an information technology
consultant who worked on the case, Gioacchino Genchi, was also
sentenced to 15 months in prison.
In Italy sentences below two years are automatically
suspended.
"My life has been turned upside down, I have been subjected
to the worst injustice," the mayor said.
"I am deeply pained by this baseless conviction. I would do
it all over again, and I won't give in to the temptation of
completely losing my trust in the State," he said.
De Magistris bemoans 'unjust, painful, baseless' conviction
'I'd do it all over again, trying not to lose faith in State'