Deputy Premier, Transport Minister
and rightwing League party leader Matteo Salvini has said he
will buy a book by an Italian army general which has caused a
free-speech row because it castigates gays, Jews, feminists,
environmentalists and migrants.
Speaking after a "very cordial" phonecall with General Roberto
Vannacci Monday, Salvini said: "(the general) must be judged for
what he does on duty, and if he then writes something that has
nothing to do with his work he has every right to do so".
Vannacci was replaced as head of the military geographical
institute by his superior officer amid the furore over his book
after Defence Minister Guido Crosetti, a heavyweight in Premier
Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Bothers of Italy (FdI) party, ordered
disciplinary action against him.
Many members of FdI and the League have defended the general's
right to say what he thinks under the Constitution's free-speech
principles.
The opposition has urged FdI leader Meloni to say what she
thinks of the row.
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