Overview

• Judge Alfonso Sabella ruled that Santanchè’s July 5, 2023 Senate statements about ex-partner Giuseppe Zeno fall outside parliamentary immunity.
• The defamation trial, set in Rome’s tribunal, centers on remarks delivered during a televised Senate defense of her involvement with Visibilia Editore.
• Zeno, a former minority shareholder, lodged the complaint after those remarks coincided with a Milan probe into alleged accounting fraud at Visibilia.
• Santanchè’s defense argues her comments were truthful and constitutionally protected under Article 68.
• The defamation proceedings will run alongside a separate Milan investigation into financial irregularities at the publisher she founded.