Milan: Meloni to be heard on 21 May at Palazzo Chigi for Corona trial

Milan, 1 December (LaPresse) – Giorgia Meloni will be heard on 21 May at Palazzo Chigi as the injured party in the trial for aggravated defamation against Fabrizio Corona, which is currently underway in Milan. This was decided today by the Court of Milan at the end of the hearing after receiving confirmation of the Prime Minister’s availability through her lawyer, Luca Libra, in the proceedings arising from the lawsuit filed by the Prime Minister and the honourable member of Fratelli d’Italia (now in the Mixed Group), Manlio Messina, against the former king of the paparazzi for the article published by Dillingernews.it on 20 October 2023, entitled “What if Giorgia Meloni’s heart were already taken? From Sicily, we are told that…” in which a supposed relationship between the two was hypothesised. The hearing will begin at around 11 a.m. because at 9 a.m. on the same day, Meloni is due to be heard in another criminal case pending before the Court of Rome. Prosecutor Giovanni Tarzia announced in court the intention of the Milan Public Prosecutor, Marcello Viola, to participate in the Roman hearing, while the judge of the eighth criminal section before whom the trial is being held announced that the president of the Court, Fabio Roia, will be involved in “studying the logistical organisation”. It remains to be seen how the “audio recording” of the hearing and the transfers to Rome of magistrates, public prosecutors, clerks and defendants (Corona and the former editor-in-chief, Luca Arnau) will be organised, especially in light of the fact that “all names must be vetted by the security offices of Palazzo Chigi”, explained lawyer Libra, citing previous occasions when this has happened. Meanwhile, today, several officers from the Milan mobile squad who carried out the investigations were heard, at least eight of whom were involved in the searches of Corona and Arnau. They reported that they had spent dozens of hours studying the chats and exchanges of messages between the two defendants and other members of the editorial staff in search of evidence of manipulation of the photographs accompanying the article. Before Meloni’s testimony, at least one other trial date has already been set: on 16 March 2026, the last investigator will be heard, an IT consultant for the defence of Mr Messina (who, like Meloni, is a civil party, represented by solicitor Mattia Serpotta), and Fabrizio Carino has requested his examination with solicitor Domenico Chiesa, who has agreed to “reverse the chronological order” of “evidence gathering”. In trials, the defendant generally speaks after all the prosecution witnesses, which in this case would have concluded with Giorgia Meloni.