ABSTRACT;: The personal history of a member of Parliament who is under investigation for slanderous accusations (including rape); his is the story of a judicial inquiry full of "flaws and contradictions", and patently absurd testimonies by an ex camorra man turned state's evidence who provides non-existent details. This is just another way of punishing someone who has destroyed 200,000 metres of illegal housing. Abbruzzese will ask for a compensation, which we has decided to donate to the Tortora (1) foundation.

(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 25 November 1993)

"I joined the Radical party three years ago as a natural consequence of my ideas. I has always refused to belong to one party or the other. I refused every sort of militancy. I participated in the campaigns for divorce and abortion. I thought I was a free person..."

The story of Salvatore Abbruzzese, a 43 year-old MP from Naples, begins with a lawyer who can't remember the numbers of the penal code contained the notice of investigation...Bribery? No. Corruption? Wrong again. "An ex camorra man turned state's evidence accused me of using cocaine between 1984 and 1986 and of having offered it to young girls; he also accused me of having had sexual intercourse with them (with the hypotheses of rape)". Next come twenty million Abbruzzese allegedly received from the same ex camorra man for supporting him in an electoral campaign he was not participating in.

Salvatore Abbruzzese has received the support of many colleagues, including the ones who normally vote for authorizations to proceed rather light-heartedly. But he himself has urged Parliament to grant the authorization, threatening to go on a hunger strike in front of the door of the president of Parliament, Napolitano. He recounts the events from June to now in a state of quasi-trance. His only thoughts are getting rid of an accusation that has involved his son, his family, his father and his political career. Above all, his is a story of flaws and contradictions in a judicial inquiry, contradictions which the prosecution has not recognized. His account contains a dialectic contradiction between the charges and the circumstances that contradict them.

"I have been accused of participating in orgies with young girls and a camorra man...but the girls said they didn't know me".

"The ex camorra man turned state's evidence who is accusing me, a professional killer, says he never knew me".

"The whole matter allegedly took place in my villa in Capri...I do not own a villa in Capri. Years after the fact I rented a flat in Capri. That was years later..."

"My brother-in-law allegedly participated in the orgy...They asked the ex camorra man to describe my broth-in-law's chest. He answered that there was nothing particular about it. He has instead a long scar on his chest".

"The ex camorra man talks about me, and I am the object of week-long investigations for the crime of corruption. Only later does it emerge that I am a Member of Parliament".

"The camorra man talks about a company allegedly owned by my brother-in-law and myself, where the trafficking occurred. The company is allegedly a non-existent one. It is instead regularly listed on page 498 of the telephone directory of the district of Naples".

"I have been accused of owning billionnaire bank accounts at the Banco San Paolo. A control effected in that bank showed that my account contains a few million, which I deposited years after the facts I am accused of".

"The camorra man talks about a speedboat used by my brother-in-law...in actual fact it is a sailing boat, worth a few million. In any case it hadn't been bought at the time of the facts".

"The camorra man is already in jail for other offences. A police record states he is willing to cooperate as long as his family is placed in the condition of surviving".

"I asked to continued the investigation. I asked the preliminary investigation to keep on going. But even my lawyer has trouble talking with the prosecutor".

"In my capacity as local councillor in Naples I destroyed almost 200,000 cubic metres of illegal housing. The camorra man comes from the clan of Pianura, where illegal housing is very intense".

"I have received sympathy and support from a lot of people. Ordinary people and members of Parliament. Giovanni Correnti of the Party of Democratic Left said he wanted to be appointed in my defense council".

"The press has destroyed me, has depicted me as a sex maniac and a cocaine addict. When all this is over I will ask for compensation, billions of lire which I will devolve to the Enzo Tortora Foundation for a Just Justice".

"I asked that in the city of the Cirillo case people ponder an investigation with too many flaws. I asked for an honest reconsideration on everyone's part. Is this possible?"

Translator's notes

(1) TORTORA ENZO. (Genua 1928 - Milan 1988). Journalist and popular TV compere, arrested for alleged drug dealing. Elected member of the European Parliament (1984) on the Radical Party ticket, he underwent a trial during which he was convicted and later acquitted at the appeal. The occasion and the symbol of the most important radical campaign for the reform of the justice system.