De Luca cleared on appeal, suspension spectre banished

(ANSA) - Salerno, February 5 - Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca was Friday acquitted of graft charges on appeal in the appointment of a project manager for the construction of a rubbish-burning energy converter plant when he was mayor of Salerno. Reacting to the news, De Luca said that he had suffered "years of heavy political and media attacks, for nothing. "Years of a calvary that would have burst the heart of anyone." He said "we coped with it thanks to deep ideal and moral motivations and the absolute serenity of conscience".
    De Luca had been given a one-year suspended sentence at the court of first instance for abuse of office and embezzlement, sparking an order, which he successfully challenged, to suspend him from his new governor's post under a 2011 anti-corruption law. De Luca's case had become a cause celebre for supporters and critics of the law, which was named after former justice minister Paolo Severino and under which former premier Silvio Berlusconi was ejected from the Senate.