La Russa's son's phone seized in rape probe

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 15 - Prosecutors investigating allegations Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa's son raped a young woman after a night at a Milan night club in May have seized the 21-year-old's mobile telephone.
    Investigators did not seize the SIM card of Leonardo Apache La Russa's phone as it is registered in the name of his father's law firm.
    As a result they would have needed the permission of the Senate to impound the SIM card too.
    On Friday La Russa senior's office expressed faith in the work being done by Milan prosecutors, while saying media coverage of the case had gone too far. Among other things, a statement said photos of another of his son's had been published by newspapers and on social media under the name of Leonardo.
    At the end of this week's NATO summit, Premier Giorgia Meloni distanced herself from a previous statement in which La Russa defended his son and called into question the alleged victim's version of events on grounds she had taken cocaine.
    "As a mother I can understand the suffering of the Senate speaker, although I would not have intervened on the merits of the issue," Meloni told reporters. (ANSA).