American Author, Jailed in Italy by Corrupt Magistrate, Seeks Help

I received this message from another writer who knows Douglas Preston personally. I do not know him. I thought his story was interesting enough to share. His story went out to an authors' group listserv already. He is seeking help from anyone willing to provide it. I am not sharing his contact info her, but I will pass along through channels to him that his message is posted on DU. Thanks.

From Douglas Preston:

"For the past five years, I have been working with an Italian
journalist, Mario Spezi, on a book about the case of a serial killer
known as the Monster of Florence, who murdered fourteen people in the
hills of Florence from 1974 to 1985. The Monster has never been caught
and the case is still open. It has become the longest-running and most
expensive criminal investigation in modern Italian history. Our book,
which will be published in Italian in Italy in April and later in
America in English, faults the investigation and specifically
criticizes the chief Examining Magistrate of Perugia, Giuliano
Mignini, and the chief prosecutor, Michele Giuttari, who are in charge
of one branch of the investigation.

I went to Italy on Feb. 14 with my family on vacation and to do some
work with Spezi on the book. I was taken into custody by the police on
Feb. 22. I was brought before Giuliano Mignini. There I was
aggressively interrogated for three hours by him and three police
detectives. I was asked about my relationship with Spezi and
questioned in great detail about our journalistic activities, our
theories, thoughts, and beliefs in the case. When I explained that my
activities as an investigative journalist were privileged, Mignini
shouted that this wasn't about freedom of the press, but was about a
criminal matter of the "utmost seriousness," and that if I didn't
answer the questions fully I would be arrested and chargd with
perjury. I was forced to answer the questions under the threat of
arrest -- which I did.

Mignini then proceeded to play back telephone conversations I had had
with Spezi, which they had wiretapped. He played the same passages
again and again, demanding to know what we were "really" talking
about, demanding that I explain the "real meaning" behind every casual
word we had exchanged. They had also recorded conversations we had had
in Spezi's car, which had been broken into and bugged -- Spezi found
the bug yesterday. When I asked if I was being accused of a crime,
Mignini said he believed I had committed not one but several serious
felonies -- to whit: planting evidence to frame an innocent man,
obstruction of justice, and being an accessory to murder -- all
utterly false accusations.

Despite answering their questions fully and truthfully, in the end
they charged me with "reticenza" and "false testimonianze" -- two
serious crimes of perjury -- but said the charges would be suspended
to allow me to leave Italy, to be reinstated later. In other words, it
seems their goal was to get me out of Italy -- never to return.

The timing of this is not surprising. Our book will be published on
April 19. The police had earlier obtained a draft of the book which
they had seized in a search of Spezi's apartment, and so Mignini and
Giuttari know well what we have written about him. This was a naked
attempt to use the power of the state to intimidate and silence two
journalists, and it may be a prelude to a legal action in Italy to
block publication of the book.

After the interrogation, the police raided Spezi's apartment (for a
third time -- he'd been raided twice before) and took away many
documents. They also broke into Spezi's car and planted a microphone,
which he later found. Following that, the police apparently leaked
details of their investigation to the press, and articles in Corriere
della Sera, La Nazione, and Il Giornale, about my interrogation and
the search and seizure of Spezi's papers. The police also leaked the
information that Spezi was suspected of involvement in several murders
and that he may be connected to the Satanic sect which the police
believe was behind the Monster of Florence serial killings.

We desperately need to publicize this attack on journalistic freedom.
I'm back in America and safe, but Spezi is at grave risk. His
financial health, his career, and his very freedom are at risk.
Yesterday he wrote to me: "Io sono molto depresso, per avere fatto il
nostro dovere, mi ritrovo in questa situazione." ... "It is very
depressing that, for having done my duty as a journalist, I find
myself in this situation."

Please -- something must be done as soon as possible. Anyone wishing
more information about the case may contact me at **e-mail address deleted**

Some background on myself -- I'm a journalist who writes for the New
Yorker magazine, and I've published fourteen books and won numerous
awards. I'm on the board of the Author's Guild. I mention these
details only to establish my credentials. In my entire journalistic
career I have not experienced the kind of abuse of prosecutorial power
as I witnessed in Italy."

Douglas Preston