Italian Senators protect their own; even the racist ones
The Former Integration Minister, Cecile Kyenge, said she would appeal the decision of the Italian Senate’s decision not to indict Northern League’s Roberto Calderoli.
Calderoli, who is Deputy Speaker of the Senate, used racist and dehumanizing language against her in 2013. Specifically, Calderoli told a Northern League rally in Treviglio that Mrs. Kyenge would be better off working as a minister “in her country” and then added: “I love animals – bears and wolves, as is known – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan, even if I’m not saying she is one.”
On Thursday, Italian Senators evoked article 68 of the Italian constitution, which states that members of parliament “cannot be held accountable for the opinions expressed or votes cast in the performance of their function.” Among the Senators that took this position were the members of the Democratic Party, to which Mrs Kyenge belongs. Since 2014, Mrs Kyenge is a Member of the European Parliament.
Following the Senate’s decision not to allow justice to take its course, Mrs. Kyenge will be appealing to the European Court of Justice. Since July 2014, Mrs. Kyenge is a Member of the European Parliament. In this crucial vote in the Senate, she was not supported by Democratic Party Senators. She has made clear this is not a personal matter, but a matter of principle.
Mr Calderoli has built a career on racist and Islamophobic remarks.
In 2006, following Italy’s victory over France in the World Cup, Mr Calderoli attributed the superiority of his national team to the fact that the French team has sacrificed national character by filling the team with “negroes, Muslims, and Communists.”
The same year, following the publication of Muhammad’s cartoons by Jyllands-Posten, he called on Pope Benedict XVI to lead a crusade.
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