The ANM’s telling silence on the Minetti case

There is something magnificent, almost educational, about the surprise with which "Il Fatto Quotidiano" greeted the solidarity expressed by Milanese lawyers towards Attorney General Francesca Nanni. Surprise: lawyers are defending a magistrate. Double surprise: they are doing so not to renounce their commitment to due process, but to remind us that even a magistrate can be criticised without being turned into a target. The most amusing thing, of course, is seeing Il Fatto take offence because someone is defending a magistrate. We had always thought of Il Fatto as a highly useful mouthpiece for the ‘prosecutors’ party’, but we need to update our view: Il Fatto loves magistrates only when they toe Il Fatto’s line. When, on the other hand, they act independently – when they do not hand over a pre-determined verdict to the media court – they become opaque powers, apparatuses, castes, enemies of the truth. So far, nothing new: it is the old ‘justicialism’ with its variable geometry.

But the most revealing point is another. Where is the ANM? Where are the press releases? Where are the statements on the attack on the judiciary’s independence? The ANM comments on everything, often with admirable promptness. If a newspaper such as "Il Foglio" criticises the Turin or Florence public prosecutor’s office – perhaps for an over-the-top press release, a press conference that was too theatrical, or an investigation presented as a civic catechism – the alarm bells ring immediately: delegitimisation, a dangerous climate, an attack on the judiciary. Now, however, this is not the case. Silence. Even in the face of a newspaper whose editor threatened to take a magistrate to court – a magistrate who had contested the "Fatto"’s account of the Minetti case as untrue. The Nanni-Minetti case, setting aside the pardon and the controversy, thus reveals a small example of Italian hypocrisy. There are magistrates defended on principle and magistrates left to fend for themselves for the sake of convenience. This time, the lawyers have pointed out a simple fact: the right to a fair trial does not apply only to those we like. By remaining silent, the ANM has made the rest clear.