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| Giuliano Mignini |
New York, May 11, 2011—The
Committee to Protect Journalists authorities calls on Florence and Perugia to
drop the trumped-up defamation lawsuit against Perugia
Shock, an English-language blog created and maintained by Frank
Sfarzo, an Italian freelance journalist and blogger. Sfarzo has endured
sustained harassment in retaliation for his reporting and commentary on the
official investigation into the November 2007 murder of British exchange
student Meredith Kercher.
Sfarzo told CPJ that he received an email from Google, which hosts the
site, last night informing him
that a court order has been issued for the “preventive closure” of his blog
dedicated to the Kercher case. In compliance with that order, Google took down Perugia Shock; it is now unavailable. It was from the
court order, Sfarzo told CPJ, that he learned that Perugia Prosecutor Giuliano
Mignini—who has a long-standing
record of anti-press actions—has filed a lawsuit against Perugia Shock for “defamation, carried out
by means of a website.” The court order, which stemmed from Mignini’s claim,
was issued on February 23 by Florentine Judge Paola Belsino. Mignini is the
lead prosecutor on the Kercher case.
“We call on Perugia Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini to drop his defamation
lawsuit against Perugia Shock and
allow it to remain online,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
Nina Ognianova said. “This is hardly the first time Mignini has resorted to the
law to silence his critics. It’s a heavy-handed tactic that is bound to have a
chilling effect on journalists in
Italy .”
CPJ has documented a history of official harassment, physical attack,
and fabricated legal prosecution against Sfarzo—all stemming from his blog,
which he created in 2007. The blog carried reporting and comments on the
Kercher case. On it, Sfarzo regularly criticized what he considered flaws in
the Kercher investigation, at times using harsh language to express his views.
Sfarzo’s case was a focus of CPJ’s April
19 letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, which expressed concern
at the anti-press actions of Perugia
authorities.
