Cops who beat journo escape with fine

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 19 - Four police who beat a journalist with their truncheons breaking several finger bones after mistaking him for an activist at a rally of the far-right CasaPound group in Genoa in May 2019 on Thursday escaped the case with fines totalling 2,582 euros at an appeals trial.
    La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone was covering the rally in a central square in the northwestern city when clashes broke out between CasaPound supporters and police.
    They took Origone for a militant and hit him repeatedly with their batons, even when he was on the ground, leaving him with extensive bruising and finger fractures.
    At the fist instance trial two years ago the four officers were sentenced to 40 days in jail for excessive and culpable use of legitimate weapons.
    Prosecutors at both trials had requested harsher punishment arguing that the police action was deliberate and not just culpable. (ANSA).