Marcello De Angelis, the head of
communications for the Lazio regional government, was at the
centre of a major political furore on Sunday for saying that
three of the far-right terrorists convicted of the 1980 Bologna
train station bombing are innocent.
The attack killed 85 people and injured 200 more, making it the
worst of Italy's
'Years of Lead' of political violence in the 1970s and 80s.
De Angelis said via social media that he knew "for certain" that
three of the five people convicted of the bombing, Giusva
Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro and Luigi Ciavardini, former
members of the NAR right-wing terrorist group, "had nothing to
do with the Bologna massacre".
He said the August 2 anniversary of the bombing "is always a
very difficult day for anyone who knows the truth, which every
year is trampled over, even by the highest figures of the
State".
The comments sparked outrage from the parties opposed to
Governor Francesco Rocca's right-wing regional executive in
Lazio, who said De Angelis was trying to re-write history and
called for him to quit or be fired.
"What Marcello De Angelis, who is not a simple citizen but the
institutional spokesperson of the Lazio Region, wrote on his
Facebook profile is serious and unacceptable," Daniele Leodori,
the head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in Lazio, and
Mario Ciarla, the PD's whip in the regional assembly, said in a
joint statement.
"It is an attempt to re-write history about the Bologna
massacre, even though the judicial truth is written in black and
white.
"We ask Governor Rocca to distance himself (from the comments)
and for De Angelis to step down.
"Someone who writes things like this cannot be the head of
communications of our region".
Emilia Romagna Governor Stefano Bonaccini, also of the PD, said
the comments were "despicable and mendacious.
"He should come to Bologna and say these things," he added.
De Angelis, a former member of the Terza Posizione (Third
Position) neo-fascist group, responded to the row by comparing
himself to Giordano Bruno, the Italian philosopher burned at
the stake in 1600 by the Catholic Church for heresy.
"I said what I think without fear of the consequences," De
Angelis said on Facebook.
"If I have to pay for this and be set alight like Giordano Bruno
for having breached a dogma, I am proud to do so".
Premier Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of
Italy (FdI) party, came under fire from several opposition
politicians on the 43rd anniversary of the Bologna bombing this
week for not specifying that the attack was of a neo-fascist
nature, something President Sergio Mattarella did.
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