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An Italian judge’s decision to release a university researcher accused of helping organise violent protests earlier this month drew an angry response from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who denounced the ruling as “shameful.
Meloni condemned the ruling in a social media video, calling it “an unbearable humiliation” of the work of police and investigators. I really don’t know how a normal state can defend decent people in the face of these decisions by certain sections of the judiciary,” she said in a video on social media. Meloni’s reaction came after a Milan judge ordered the release of Youseef Siher, a 30-year-old Italian freelance journalist of Moroccan origin and a graduate in geopolitics, citing what she described as a “deeply flawed” police investigation. “There are no serious grounds for believing that (Siher) committed the offences with which he has been charged, nor is there a risk of flight,” judge Tiziana Landoni wrote in her ruling. Italian police identified him as the administrator of the Telegram group “October 17 Movement”, which was created following violent protests in Milan. “Siher was not found to have encouraged or in any way supported the violent actions advocated by those users,” she wrote.
She questioned how a state could protect law-abiding citizens in the face of such judicial decisions. “I think this is an unbearable humiliation of the work of the police and investigators. However, judge Landoni noted that the comments in question had been posted by other group members, not Siher.
Critics have also questioned the extensive media coverage of the case, with some Italian newspapers portraying him as guilty and publishing detailed accounts of his life and family.