Italy has started 2024 with a political storm unleashed after an attendee at a New Year’s Eve party with members of the far-right Brothers of Italy (HdI), the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was injured by a deputy’s pistol. a fact that the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.

It all happened at a party in the Piedmontese village of Rosazza (north) where, among others, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice Andrea Delmastro and the deputy Emanuele Pozzolo, both from Meloni’s party, were present.

According to a first reconstruction of the events: after midnight, a shot from a small pistol that Pozzolo legally owns, a North American Arms LR22, wounded the son-in-law of a member of Delmastro’s bodyguard in the leg.

The injured man, 31 years old, was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital and, after being treated, he was discharged, but must be on medical leave for a week, according to local media.

This turbulent New Year’s Eve has unleashed a storm in Italy and the Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Biella, to which Rosazza belongs, has already opened an investigation to determine responsibilities.

The first question is who fired the gun: Deputy Pozzolo has confirmed that the gun is his, but maintains that he did not pull the trigger and has refused to submit to the gunpowder analysis, relying on his parliamentary immunity.

Delmastro, one of the most controversial members of Meloni’s cabinet and who will be prosecuted for a case of alleged revelation of secrets, has explained that Pozzolo had not been initially invited, but rather joined after midnight for a simple greeting.

In statements to the newspaper La Repubblica, Delmastro added that he had left the premises to take some bags of food to the car when he heard the explosion, which at first he attributed to a firecracker, but when he returned to the party he found the injured man ” lying on a table in the living room.”

Meloni has not yet commented on these events and a public appearance is not expected until the end-of-year press conference that he is expected to offer this Thursday, after delaying it twice due to health problems.

Delmastro’s sister, Francesca, mayor of Rossazo, who was also at the party, confirmed her version on the SkyTg24 channel.

The Italian opposition, led by the progressive Democratic Party (PD), has demanded Delmastro’s resignation and Meloni’s intervention to “immediately clarify” the incident.

“These incompetents are a danger to the security of those around them, not to mention national security. Let Meloni clarify what measures he intends to take against Deputy Pozzolo who goes to parties with a loaded weapon in his pocket and ends up wounding a person,” said his secretary Elly Schlein.

Carabinieri agents have begun investigations and have collected testimonies to try to clarify what happened and the Government Delegation of the city of Biella will withdraw Pozzolo’s weapons license.

Meloni’s party has downplayed the incident and sees the “attempt to transform what happened into a political case to attack” the prime minister as “absurd.”

“This is an event about which the competent authorities will carry out the appropriate verifications to determine responsibilities. In the event that irregular or inappropriate behavior emerges on the part of Pozzolo, the appropriate measures will be adopted by the party,” said HdI in a statement. .