No case to answer: I am free of all charges. I was charged with defamation after reacting to being insulted during a TV broadcast about the LNG terminals envisioned in Trieste’s Gulf. I was insulted on air, and accused of saying things I never said.
The real target were my complaints against the LNG terminals. There are legal and environmental reasons why such projects are incompatible with the present-day Free Territory of Trieste – FTT. Still, ridiculing me was much easier than discussing my work.
While defending myself in the trial, I did also lodge an exception regarding jurisdiction over Trieste. The Italian judiciary cannot commit me for trial under Italian laws of the Italian Republic. To do so, the Italian Government should exercise its authority as Trieste’s provisional Government.
Indeed, in 1954, the Governments of the US and of the UK sub-entrusted the Italian Government with the temporary civil administration of the present-day Free Territory. Since 1954, the Italian Government rules over two States, by virtue of very different instruments.
Because, under the law, the Free Territory of Trieste is a State since 1947, and I am one of its citizens. I have the right to know under which jurisdiction I am prosecuted. No State can exercise its jurisdiciton or prosecute foreigners in their own State.
How about the officers that the Italian Government entrusted with administering the Free Territory of Trieste? How long are they going to pretend they know nothing about the very source of their powers?
Ignorance of the law excuses not.
Update: as for the liability of Italian public officers serving their duties in the Free Territory of Trieste, we suggest reading analysis “The duties of Italian civil officers in the Free Territory of Trieste” published on investigative newspaper “La Voce di Trieste”.
Translated from blog “Ambiente e Legalità” – “Environment and Legality” by Roberto Giurastante