The lawyer of jailed Cosa
Nostra boss Totò Riina will be able to question President
Giorgio Napolitano when the head of State gives evidence on
October 28 to a trial into alleged negotiations between the
Mafia and the State, a Palermo court ruled Friday.
However, the court stressed that Napolitano's consent was
"essential" for Riina's lawyer to question him, due to his
Constitutional prerogatives as president.
It upheld a request from Riina's defence lawyer, Luca
Cianferoni, to ask Napolitano about events in 1993 and 1994, and
therefore issues different to those originally stipulated by the
judges.
Napolitano will give evidence to the trial from the
presidential palace in Rome.
The trial is into alleged negotiations to stop a series
of Cosa Nostra bomb attacks in the early 1990s that claimed the
lives of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino
in 1992, and continued with fatal bombings of art sites in 1993.
Riina, who is known as the 'beast' as he is the bloodiest
Cosa Nostra boss in history, is among the defendants, along with
fellow top mobster Leoluca Bagarella.
Nicola Mancino, a former interior minister and Senate
Speaker, is also on trial for alleged perjury, which he denies.
Napolitano was originally called to give evidence about a
letter he received in June 2012 from a legal advisor, Loris
D'Ambrosio.
In that letter D'Ambrosio, who died shortly after writing
it in July 2012, said he had always acted correctly, while
expressing fears that there may have been negotiations between
the State and Cosa Nostra two decades ago.
The president said he had had no communication from
D'Ambrosio that was relevant to the case, but the court said in
September that he had to give evidence anyway.
Earlier this month, the court rejected a petition for
Riina and Bagarella to participate via a video link from jail
when Napolitano gives evidence.
In addition to Napolitano, the Palermo court has also
accepted prosecution requests to call up a host of other
witnesses, including Senate Speaker and former national
anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso.
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