A colleague has it tease on social media to post a graphic not very reliable. He, in response, had been attacking her in a very rude manner for several days, calling her “loser“, comparing it with Donald Duck and insinuated that he had asked recommendation to be appointed to an important public role. Because of this Luigi Marattinmember of parliament and professor of political economy in Bologna, who has lived in Italy for a long time (now he has founded a new entity, the Liberal Democratic Party) was sentenced to compensate the economist thirty thousand euros Lucio Piccianti-corruption expert, full professor at the same university and former teacher. The story begins in September 2022, a few days after the last political election: in an attempt to show that the consensus (higher than expectations) of 5 Star Movement linked to citizen’s incomeMarattin has published in As proven, but the alleged correlation is completely unreliable, because it does not connect the values with total population: it is clear that in more densely populated areas (and therefore, in general, with more income and also more voters) both curves rise, while in less populated areas they fall. The topic of the MP has been the target of numerous ironic tweets, including one from Picci himself: “My econometrics lesson. It’s my fault“, his comment alluded to the fact that there was Marattin among his students. And also Finished has dedicated a short article to this “case”.
The story could have ended there, if not for the fact that the politician – clearly deeply offended – dedicated himself in the following days to destroying the professor’s figure on social media, targeting him with rather harsh statements. “There is no ugly figure (sic, ed). The graphics are correct. That is onlyM5 press organ and a colleague angry with me because I didn’t help him become President of Stateas he really wanted (but I went with him easylife is already too hard)”, he tweeted on September 29, two days after Picci’s joke. 48 hours later, on October 1, he returned to the office more sharply in a post on his blog: “But what about your “economics professor” who scolded you? However, for several years, he has been my colleague, the biggest “loser” in his department. Just walk around the city and say its name to understand it better. A few years ago – I was working at Palazzo Chigi – he was constantly looking for me because he had decided he wanted to be president of Istat. As if Donald wanted to do just that CEO of Appleso I politely tried to let him go, without hurting his sensitivities. Instead he never forgave me, and periodically tried visibility on social media attacked me, and only received support from a few “losers” like him and in the M5 press organs Il Fatto Quotidiano. As I’ve said many times, I have no interest in being mean to him. Unfortunately, that has happened quite lively“.
For this statement, Picci applied to the Civil Court of Bologna, which sentenced Marattin to compensate him in the amount of thirty thousand euros, to delete the tweet and the post and to publish the sentence on the blog and in significant impact of defamation“, in particular “with reference to the affairs (four years earlier) regarding the appointment of the president of Istat”: Marattin, in fact, makes “the average reader understand” that Picci, “in the past, had sought unclear favors – due to his involvement in national politics – to secure the position. On the contrary, it is clear from the case documentation that the applicant’s candidacy as president of Istat was motivated by constructive intentionswith the intention of introducing into the political debate the theme of technical competence required in the selection of institutional managers, moreover with full and sincere awareness that there is no chance of being appointed”. This situation, which the politician is “fully aware of”. satire rights: a reminder designated by a judge as something special”inappropriate“, because the statement “was not presented no creative nature typical of the genres of literature, poetry, theater, drawing, and satirical cartoon”. The sentence, uncontested, has become final.
