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Senator convicted over racist remark about Italy's first black minister
Source: The Guardian
Senator convicted over racist remark about Italy's first black minister
Roberto Calderoli of far-right League likened Cécile Kyenge to an orangutan during a rally
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Mon 14 Jan 2019 19.00 GMT
A senator from Italy’s far-right League has been given an 18-month prison sentence for likening the country’s first black minister to an orangutan.
Roberto Calderoli said during a party rally in July 2013 that whenever he saw pictures of Cécile Kyenge, an MEP who at the time was integration minister, “I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan”.
Calderoli argued his comments about Kyenge, who moved to Italy from Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1983 to study medicine, were “playful banter”.
A court in Bergamo found him guilty of defamation aggravated by racial hatred. But it is not certain whether he will serve any prison time – the sentence will only become definitive once a process of two appeals has been exhausted, and terms of less than two years are usually suspended.
-snip-
Roberto Calderoli of far-right League likened Cécile Kyenge to an orangutan during a rally
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Mon 14 Jan 2019 19.00 GMT
A senator from Italy’s far-right League has been given an 18-month prison sentence for likening the country’s first black minister to an orangutan.
Roberto Calderoli said during a party rally in July 2013 that whenever he saw pictures of Cécile Kyenge, an MEP who at the time was integration minister, “I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan”.
Calderoli argued his comments about Kyenge, who moved to Italy from Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1983 to study medicine, were “playful banter”.
A court in Bergamo found him guilty of defamation aggravated by racial hatred. But it is not certain whether he will serve any prison time – the sentence will only become definitive once a process of two appeals has been exhausted, and terms of less than two years are usually suspended.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/14/league-senator-convicted-for-racist-remark-about-italy-first-black-minister-roberto-calderoli-cecile-kyenge
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