ITALY: Crime journalist's imprisonment raises
alarm
April 19, 2006
The Honorable Silvio Berlusconi
President of the Council of Ministers
Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri
Palazzo Chigi
Piazza Colonna 370
00186 Roma
Italia
Via Facsimile: 011 39 066 7793169
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonpartisan
organization dedicated to defending the rights of journalists
worldwide, is deeply concerned about the fate of Mario Spezi, a
veteran crime journalist imprisoned in the central Italian city of
Perugia.
Officers with the Florence headquarters of the special police unit for
investigating serial crimes, Gruppo Investigativo Delitti Seriali
(GIDES), headed by Michele Giuttari, arrested Spezi, a freelancer for
the Florence-based daily La Nazione, at his Florence home on
April 7 on the order of Giuliano Mignini, public prosecutor of
Perugia. Spezi was transferred the same day to Capanne Prison in
Perugia, where he remains, according to local and international press
reports and CPJ sources.
Mignini filed a request with the preliminary investigation judge of
Perugia, Marina De Robertis, to invoke a rarely used law under Italy’s
criminal code to deny Spezi access to a lawyer for five days, Spezi’s
lawyer Alessandro Traversi told CPJ. The law is typically applied to
the most dangerous criminals, yet Judge De Robertis authorized the
measure, and for five days Spezi was denied legal counsel and held
incommunicado.
Spezi, 60, a journalist for 30 years, had for two decades been
investigating the serial murders of eight couples in Tuscany. He had
written articles in the Italian press, appeared on television shows to
speak about his investigation into the murders, and co-authored a
non-fiction book on the killings with U.S. journalist and writer
Douglas Preston.
The Tuscany killings, which took place between 1968 and 1985,
triggered a long and costly criminal probe, which is still open. The
murders were especially cruel, with female victims missing some of
their body parts. Pietro Pacciani, a farm worker, was tried in 1994 on
charges of committing seven of the eight double-murders. Known as the
“Monster of Florence,” he was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison. An appeals court, however, overturned Pacciani’s sentence in
1996, and ordered that he be retried. While awaiting a second trial,
Pacciani died in 1998 of what authorities said were natural causes.
Two more suspects are now serving jail terms for alleged involvement
in several of the murders, according to The Associated Press.
Spezi’s wife, Miriam, told CPJ that authorities showed no warrant when
they took her husband on April 7, nor did they explain why or where
they were taking him. News reports say the journalist is now under
criminal investigation for allegedly defaming Perugia prosecutors
through the media; attempting to sidetrack an official murder probe by
planning to plant evidence; and involvement in the 1985 alleged murder
of a Florentine doctor.
These are very serious allegations, whose substance and supporting
evidence should be clarified and made public. Authorities in Perugia
have not done so, and Spezi remains in jail for a 12th consecutive
day. On April 14, Judge De Robertis refused to grant a defense motion
to release Spezi during the investigation, the Italian news agency
ANSA reported.
Spezi’s lawyer, Alessandro Traversi, told CPJ that he is planning to
file another motion seeking his client’s release. “The prosecution has
given no substantive explanation and evidence of my client’s alleged
guilt,” Traversi said.
CPJ research and interviews with Italian journalists, some of whom
asked to remain anonymous for fear of official retaliation, show a
pattern of official harassment against Spezi in connection with his
investigation of the “Monster of Florence” case.
Background
In 2001, Florence police and Perugia prosecutors, including Giuttari
and Mignini, resurrected the “Monster of Florence” criminal probe
after the emergence of what they called a new lead. They proposed a
new theory that said the murders were committed not by a sole killer
but by members of a Satanic sect who used body parts from the killings
as ritual offerings, the AP said.
Spezi is considered by colleagues to be an expert on the “Monster of
Florence” case, and has dedicated a large part of his career to
researching the murders. He disagreed with the prosecution’s new
focus, Miriam Spezi and the Preston told CPJ.
Preston, 49, a best-selling author who has written for the New
Yorker, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and other
prominent magazines, has worked with Spezi for the past five and a
half years on an independent investigation of the “Monster of
Florence” case. The result of their collaboration—the non-fiction book
Dolci Colline di Sangue (Sweet Bloody Hills)—was released today
by the Italian publishing house RCS Libri, Miriam Spezi told CPJ. In
the book, Spezi and Preston criticize the official Florence-Perugia
investigation and directly criticize Giuttari and Mignini for pursuing
a focus not backed by forensic evidence, Preston told CPJ. The authors
suggest a sole killer was responsible, but not Pacciani.
Between 2000 and 2002, Spezi wrote a number of articles in the Italian
press and appeared on television shows, where he presented the results
of his own investigations in the cases, local sources told CPJ.
Tensions between Spezi and investigators peaked after Spezi appeared
in May 2002 on the RAI 3 television show “Chi l’ha visto?” (Who has
seen this person?). Spezi was accompanied by a forensic expert, who
sought to cast doubt on the official probe, Preston told CPJ.
Since November 2004, the GIDES police unit headed by Giuttari has
searched Spezi’s home three times, Miriam Spezi told CPJ.
On November 18, 2004, police seized Spezi’s computer, disks,
correspondence, e-mail correspondence with Preston, notebooks, and an
address book that included contact information for sources, Miriam
Spezi said. The computer hard drive contained a draft manuscript of
the book, including the date of its expected publication. Authorities
returned the materials two months later—with the exception of the
address book, Miriam Spezi told CPJ. A photocopy of that was given
instead.
The search warrant GIDES presented to Spezi said he was being
investigated for 18 alleged crimes, but the precise crimes were
labeled “secret” and were not disclosed, Miriam Spezi and Preston told
CPJ.
Preston said he, too, endured harassment from GIDES and prosecutor
Mignini while in Florence on a working vacation this year. On February
22, two GIDES officers handed him a summons to appear at Mignini’s
Perugia office for questioning.
When Preston appeared at the office the next day, he said, he was
questioned for two and a half hours about his relationship with Spezi,
their journalistic activities, and their research into the “Monster of
Florence” killings. Mignini played a recorded conversation between
Preston and Spezi and asked him its “real” meaning. Preston said
Mignini pressured him to confess to helping Spezi plant evidence at a
crime scene and sidetracking the official probe into the “Monster of
Florence” killings. Preston said he refused, prompting Mignini to say
the writer would be prosecuted for perjury if he stayed in the
country. Preston said he is unable to return to Italy for fear of
being brought to trial.
Several local journalists told CPJ that Italian reporters are afraid
to speak openly in support of Spezi because they fear angering
authorities. Several declined to be quoted by name for fear of
official harassment.
Daniela Preziosi, editor at the Rome-based independent weekly Left
Avvenimenti, told CPJ that journalists in Italy work in a climate
of fear and feel that press freedom is in danger in Italy. Preziosi
said she had been questioned by Mignini several times about her own
work on the “Monster of Florence” case. “For journalists, working in a
climate like this is a very serious problem,” Preziosi told CPJ.
Journalists should not be fearful to conduct their own investigations
into sensitive matters or to speak openly and criticize officials. In
a democratic country such as your own, one that is an integral part of
the European Union, such fear is unacceptable. We call on you to make
sure that Italian authorities clarify the serious charges against our
colleague Mario Spezi and make public all available evidence
supporting those charges, or release him immediately.
The persecution of Mario Spezi and his U.S. colleague Douglas Preston,
who is afraid to travel to Italy for fear of prosecution, sends a
dangerous message to Italian journalists that sensitive stories such
as the Tuscany killings should be avoided. Government efforts to
promote this climate of self-censorship are anathema to democracy.
We call on you to do everything in your power to stop the harassment
of our Italian colleague, Mario Spezi, and to ensure that our U.S.
colleague, Douglas Preston, can travel to Italy and be allowed to work
freely. Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters. We await
your response.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
|
|
|
|
|
|
torna
alla home page |
|
|
|
