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Freedom of the press, our victory over UNAPROL – Coldiretti

November 22, 2024

Freedom of the press is reaffirmed by the Preliminary Investigations Judge (GIP) at the Court of Rome who on 15 November 2024 acquitted the undersigned ‘because the fact does not exist‘, with respect to a hypothesis of defamation reported by David Granieri, president of UNAPROL and member of the board of the national Coldiretti. #VanghePulite.

1) Coldiretti – UNAPROL, Federconsorzi. The ‘incriminated’ article

Article the subject of the complaint – Coldiretti and Federconsorzi 2, the great olive oil festival (1) – has illustrated a series of ‘anomalies’. In extreme synthesis:

– the fourth term as president of UNAPROL, unprecedented in history, attributed to David Granieri. President of Coldiretti Lazio, as well as in the board of the national federation;

– the previous betrayal of Italian olive growers, by David Granieri and Vincenzo Gesmundo, with the (failed) operation of ‘Italian’ oil to be made with foreign oil <50%; (2)

– the diversion of public funds collected by UNAPROL towards Coldiretti’s ‘party school’, AGER Srl, of which Germina Campus (GerCam) SpA holds 95% of the shares, Coldiretti nazionale the remaining 5%;

– the conflict of interests between Coldiretti, owner of GerCam SpA, and the farmers to whom it sells policies with double intermediation, through its Agrifides and its subsidiary Green Assicurazioni; (3)

– the registration of the PGI ‘Olio di Roma’, in fratricidal competition with the four extra virgin olive oils already present in Lazio (Sabina, Tuscia, Canino, Colline Pontine);

– the economic collapse of the Paladino Oil Mill and the rental contract of its valuable ‘branch of the business’, in favour of UNAPROL directed by David Granieri, at the vile price of 16.000 euros/year;

– the subsequent appointment (later revoked by the Ministry of Made in Italy and Business) of a liquidator in a grotesque conflict of interests, again in the Coldiretti area. (4)

2) Paladino Oil Mill and Federconsorzi 2

The disastrous saga of the large cooperative Oleificio Paladino then continued with the appointment of another liquidator, Gianluca Piredda. Who stipulated a new rental contract for the ‘branch of the company’, at the equally vile price of 20.000 euros/year, in favor of Federconsorzi 2 alias CAI SpA.

Federconsortia 2, a week later, sub-leased the business unit of the Oleificio Paladino cooperative – once again – to UNAPROL (through its Apulian subsidiary Cooperativa Puglia Olive).

The power system Coldiretti – UNAPROL, responsible for the financial collapse of Oleificio Paladino, has thus continued its management. Without the creditors having received even a minimal part of their dues.

The liquidator commissioner also failed to publish all the periodic half-yearly reports required by the bankruptcy law (article 205), pending the necessary intervention of the competent authorities. (5)

3) Freedom of the press, the ruling of the Rome Tribunal

The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Rome – as the writer has already unfortunately experienced – indulges in asking for referrals to trial for the crime of defamation, following the intimidating complaints of the magic circle of Coldiretti and its acolytes. Often without even conducting investigations, on the sole basis of the arguments proposed by the plaintiffs.

The GIP (Preliminary Investigation Judge) called to decide on the legitimacy of the article cited in paragraph 1 and note 1, instead acquitted the writer, without returning the documents to the PM. Recalling ‘the authoritative address expressed by Cass. SS.UU. criminal in sentence no. 18 of 25/10/95 (with an orientation reiterated several times by the Supreme Court)‘.

3.1) Motivations

‘The criminal case arises following the complaint of a certain Granieri, legal representative of UNAPROL, who complains about the defamatory nature of a writing published on the internet by the current defendant.

Beyond the consideration that defamatory profiles summarized in the indictment are poorly intelligible, even reading the complaint does not reveal any clear elements of responsibility.

The literal meaning of the expressions does not have a nature that is immediately perceptible as damaging to the honor and decorum of anyone. That is, we are not dealing with blatantly vulgar or inappropriate expressions: epithets, vulgarities, insults‘. (5)

3.2) Inconsistent allegations

‘The same complaint he speaks of a text “of a clearly and intentionally polemical and accusatory nature” without however understanding from it what insinuations allow one to immediately establish that the object of the offended reputation is the individual or the collective body represented by him since, on the contrary, the polemic is directed against Coldiretti.

The sentence reported in the indictment, completely divorced from any context, does not allow any inference about offences to the reputation of the individual or the entity; if it is assumed that the passive subject of the crime must be determined or in any case can be easily and with certainty identified, the overall meaning of the article expresses criticism of the work of Coldiretti and laments the fact that

– Unaprol “drains” European public funding without this being considered offensive in itself; that

– some of them are “diverted” in favor of AGER, a consultancy firm of Coldiretti, is also a statement devoid of any directly perceptible offensive meaning‘. (5)

4) Information and democracy

Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the ‘European Convention on Human Rights‘ (ECHR, Article 10), as well as by the Italian Constitution. And the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly underlined how this right is essential to contribute to information and public debate, the cornerstones of democracy. (6)

Coldiretti’s magic circle – together with its economic and political partners – persists in trying to stifle the independent information offered by those who write in the ‘Vanghe Pulite’ investigation. And it continues to succumb in civil and criminal courts, as recently seen in the proceedings initiated by Federico Vecchioni and Gianluca Lelli. (7)

Independent information and the right of farmers to know better the activities and conflicts of interest of those who should represent them will always and in any case be asserted, at every level of judgment. Even at the European Court, if necessary. While waiting for the judiciary to deal with the real illicit acts, repeatedly denounced in these columns. (8)

#VanghePulite

Dario Dongo

Footnotes

(1) Dario Dongo. Coldiretti and Federconsorzi 2. The great olive oil festival. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

(2) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Olio Italico, the Italian sounding of Coldiretti. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

(3) Dario Dongo. Germina Campus, the Coldiretti holding company that speculates on farmers. #Clean shovels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).13.6.21

(4) Dario Dongo. UNAPROL, AIPO and Oleificio Paladino, conflicts of interest like wildfire. #Clean shovels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

(5) Court of Rome, GIP Office, judgment of 15 November 2024 n. 3750/2024 in proceeding n. 4782/2024 RGNR, n. 30737/2024 RGGIP

(6) Tarlach McGonagle, in collaboration with Marie McGonagle and Ronan Ó Fathaigh (2016). Freedom of expression and defamation. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg. Strasbourg ISBN 978-92-871-8250-0.http://book.coe.int

(7) Dario Dongo. CAI SpA, the Court of Rome recognizes our right to criticism. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

(8) Among others, see the previous article by Dario Dongo. Coldiretti and the financial operation Federconsorzi 2. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).