Pozzolo suspended from FdI House caucus

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 9 - Brothers of Italy (FdI) lawmaker Emanuele Pozzolo has been suspended from the party caucus in the Lower House amid an ongoing furore in relation to a shot fired accidentally from a gun he was carrying after a New Year's Eve party and that injured a man in the leg, FdI House whip Tommaso Foti said on Tuesday.
    "The presidential office of the FdI caucus in the Chamber of Deputies today adopted the precautionary measure of suspension from the group of the Honourable Emanuele Pozzolo as a matter of urgency," Foti said.
    In her year-end press conference last Thursday Premier Giorgia Meloni told reporters she had "asked that Pozzolo be referred to FdI's board of arbitrators independently of the investigations being carried out by the competent authority and that he be suspended from the party pending judgement".
    Pozzolo, 38, has been placed under investigation for grievous bodily harm after a bullet grazed the thigh of the 31-year-old son-in-law of the bodyguard of FDI Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, also at the party, although he claims he did not fire it.
    He took a gunshot residue test the day after the incident, whose result has yet to be made public.
    Pozzolo has in the past posted on social media photos of Mussolini, and said he is a "reactionary" who is in favour of "defending ourselves with firearms".
    After the incident, police said they were proceeding to confiscate another six firearms owned by the lawmaker. (ANSA).