Bloodcurdling use of uniform by cops (5)

(ANSA) - Rome, September 11 - The alleged rape of two 20-year-old American students by two on-duty Carabinieri in Florence constitutes "a bloodcurdling use of the uniform," ex-premier and ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi said Monday.
    "What happened in Florence is of an unprecedented gravity," said the former Florence mayor.
    "The use of the uniform in this way is bloodcurdling". If the charges of rape are proven, it would be "absolutely unjustifiable and to be condemned with force. I say that not as party leader but as a father, son, citizen.
    "Those two people have besmirched the Corps".
    Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said "we will be inflexible" on the case of the two Carabinieri.
    Pinotti, who as defence chief controls the Carabinieri, a paramilitary force, said "we will get to the bottom of this, and punish those responsible".
    One of the Carabinieri has reportedly admitted having sex with one of the young women but has claimed it was consensual and the woman was not drunk.
    The other has yet to admit having sex, according to sources close to the case. Prosecutors have said he will be called in unless he comes in of his own accord.
    Medical sources said tests indicated the women had been drinking heavily. After helping quell a fight in a disco near the scenic Piazzale Michelangelo, the cops took the women back to their central Florence apartment building, on the upscale Via Tornabuoni, where the students said they were raped, one in the lobby and the other in the lift.
    DNA matching of vaginal swabs to samples from the Carabinieri is pending.
    The Carabinieri corps is the "injured party" in the case, Florence Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo said, stressing that "the Carabinieri have from the outset taken an active and determined part in the investigations that have been entrusted to the police".