League Senator gets off for calling Kyenge 'orangutan'

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 6 - League Senator Roberto Calderoli's 18-month suspended sentence for calling Congo-born integration minister Cecile Kyenge an orangutan in 2013 was quashed by the supreme Court of Cassation on Monday.
    For,er two-time minister Calderoli, 66, was cleared because lower courts were found to have ignored his legitimate impediment to attending proceedings because of health reasons, namely a cancer operation.
    The supreme court also ruled that Senate Vice President Calderoli's alleged offence has not quite timed out.
    Kyenge, a 57-year-old ophthalmologist and former member of the European Parliament, became Italy's first black minister when she was appointed integration minister in Enrico Letta's government of 2013-2014, when she was a frequent target of racial slurs, many by League members.
    League bigwig Calderoli said "when I think of Kyenge, I can't help thinking of an orangutan". (ANSA).