Overview
- Valter Lavitola told a judge on August 12 that he ordered the October 16 explosive attack on journalist Sigfrido Ranucci but said he meant to prompt greater protection rather than harm him, and he remains detained in Rebibbia after a judge refused house arrest.
- Lavitola's lawyers are preparing an appeal to the Tribunale del Riesame and may add spontaneous declarations or request a new interrogation to clarify parts of his confession that the court called implausible and lacking corroboration.
- Investigators have reopened deeper forensic work on Lavitola's seized phone and computer after finding roughly two hours of a nocturnal call between Lavitola and Ranucci missing from the case file and only about twenty minutes available to prosecutors.
- Prosecutors identify Gomes Clesio Tavares as Lavitola's trusted intermediary, say he is currently abroad, and plan to request his extradition while co-defendants' lawyers seek interrogations to argue the attackers did not intend to kill Ranucci.
- The case has broader effects on the inquiry because forensic gaps, contested motives and parallel defence moves could change who is summoned for questioning and shape whether the DDA pursues expanded charges or relies on Lavitola's statements as key evidence.