Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Thursday the suspension of a deputy from her Fratelli d’Italia party who had brought a gun to a New Year’s Eve party that injured a guest, an affair embarrassing for her image. “I asked that the deputy (Emanuele) Pozzolo be referred to the ethics commission of Fratelli d’Italia and that, pending the judgment, he be suspended from Fratelli d’Italia,” declared the head of the far-right party during its end-of-year press conference, initially scheduled for the end of December, but postponed for health reasons.
The prosecution opened an investigation
After the events, the 38-year-old deputy admitted to having come with a 22 caliber mini-pistol to the New Year’s Eve party organized in the premises of a cultural association in Rosazza, 70 km from Turin (north-west). . Under unclear circumstances, a gunshot went off, injuring a 31-year-old man in the leg. “I confirm that the shot was fired accidentally from a legal pistol belonging to me, but it was not me who fired,” the MP, known for his opposition to vaccines and the health passport during the pandemic.
These explanations did not satisfy Giorgia Meloni: “Someone behaved in a non-responsible manner and the person who was not responsible is the owner of this weapon,” she lambasted. “This does not work for an Italian in general, and even less so for a parliamentarian, and even more so for a parliamentarian from Fratelli d’Italia.” “On this matter, I intend to be severe, as you see,” she concluded. The prosecution has opened an investigation for voluntary or involuntary injuries into this incident, which is the subject of contradictory versions.
The injured man is the son-in-law of a bodyguard of Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, who was also present at the party, according to media reports. The opposition parties did not fail to stigmatize the MP’s irresponsible behavior, while Fratelli d’Italia proposed in December to lower the age for obtaining a permit to carry hunting weapons to 16 years. In Italy, the possession of weapons is strictly regulated by a weapons permit. Hunting and sport shooting permits limit its wearing to the shooting range and hunting grounds and only the permit issued for personal defense allows it to be carried anywhere on one’s person.
The leader of the Democratic Party (PD, left) Elly Schlein called on Giorgia Meloni to take “measures against Pozzolo”, while the centrist former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi denounced on X an “incapable” and “dangerous” ruling class .