A Milan court of appeals on Thursday explained why it upheld the acquittal of two men who gave a Roman salute, finding it was unclear whether their gesture "crossed the boundary of commemoration" into the realm of spreading Fascist ideology.
The latter is a crime in post-World War II Italy.
The acquittal was handed down September 21, and the court today released its motivation for the verdict. In June 2015, a preliminary hearings judge first acquitted defendants Marco Clemente and Matteo Ardolino, both members of extreme-right group Casapound, of intending to spread Fascist ideology during an April, 2014 commemoration for three slain fellow believers: World War II militant Carlo Borsani, who was executed in 1945; student Sergio Ramelli, a youth group member of the neofascist MSI party who was beaten to death by an extreme-left group in 1975; and 49-year-old Enrico Pedenovi, an MSI provincial councillor who was shot dead by an extreme-left commando in 1976.
The prosecution had requested six months in prison for both defendants, with ANPI resistance fighters association a civil plaintiff in the case.
It argued the commemoration in itself was "intrinsic" to the defendants' desire to spread Fascist ideology, but the court disagreed.
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