Salvini says Mattarella guilty, not him

(see related) (ANSA) - L'Aquila, April 11 - Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Monday that he was not guilty of the offence of 'vilipendio' - offending the State institutions - after insulting President Sergio Mattarella. "Being as (Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party) PD is reporting me for offending the presidency, the first person to commit this crime is Mr Mattarella, who has not come to have a walk around L'Aquila," Salvini during a visit to the Abruzzo capital, which was hit by an earthquake that killed over 300 people in 2009. "I have broad shoulders. If someone wants to report me, I couldn't care less. In my little way, I defend the rights and interests of Italian citizens who are not powerful". He added that the weakness of Italy under Premier Matteo Renzi and Mattarella was shown by the diplomatic problems linked to the case of Italian researcher Guilio Regeni who was killed in Cairo and of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012: "we are amazed that Egypt makes fun of us if a lad dies and they tell us it was accident, but the marines have been on trial in India for four years.