Overview

• The Tribunal de Apelación de Roma confirmed on July 14 the one-and-a-half-year sentence for ex-Casalesi clan boss Francesco Bidognetti and the one-year, two-month term for his lawyer Michele Santonastaso.
• Both were convicted for publicly threatening author Roberto Saviano and journalist Rosaria Capacchione during the 2008 Juicio Spartacus proceedings.
• Saviano described the verdict as the most important of his life and has lived under continuous police protection since publishing Gomorra in 2006.
• The Federación Nacional de la Prensa Italiana and Colegio de Periodistas joined as private accusers to underscore the case’s defense of investigative journalism.
• Legal analysts describe the decision as a symbolic vindication of press freedom that highlights institutional support against mafia intimidation in court.