Justice Undersecretary Andrea
Delmastro was indicted by a preliminary hearings judge in Rome
on Wednesday over allegedly classified information he revealed
regarding the case of jailed anarchist Alfredo Cospito.
The trial will start on March 12.
Delmastro, a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of
Italy (FdI) party, allegedly leaked information about the case
to his flat mate and fellow FdI member Giovanni Donzelli, who
subsequently disclosed the information in parliament.
In July prosecutors had requested that the case against
Delmastro be shelved but a judge said no and ordered them to
present an indictment request.
At the time, Premier Giorgia Meloni said it was a "a political
issue" as it "concerns a member of the government in the
exercise of his office.
"As I see it, proceedings involving the two sides with the judge
in a third party role means that the judge should not take the
place of the prosecutor," she continued.
In January Donzelli told parliament that Cospito, who was on
hunger strike at the time to protest against the tough 41 bis
jail regime he is being held under, had talked to mafia bosses
about getting the treatment abolished.
The jail regime is usually reserved for mafiosi.
Donzelli also revealed that four lawmakers from the opposition,
centre-left Democratic Party (PD) had visited Cospito, who is
serving a combined 30-year sentence for the Fossano bombing, in
which two Carabinieri were injured, and kneecapping a nuclear
company executive in 2012.
During the debate Donzelli, a member of the Copasir
parliamentary committee that oversees Italy's intelligence
services, asked whether the PD was on the side of the State or
that of the mafia and terrorists, sparking indignation from the
opposition.
Delmastro subsequently fuelled the row by saying that the PD
lawmakers had given in to Cospito's demand that they meet other
people being held under the 41 bis, including two mafia bosses,
as a condition for the encounter with him.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said that the information was not
classified.
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