The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced this Thursday the suspension of a deputy from her party, Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia), for having brought a firearm to a New Year’s Eve party that ended up causing someone to be injured.
“I have asked that the deputy (Emanuele) Pozzolo appear before the ethics committee of Fratelli d’Italia and that, pending trial, he be suspended,” declared the leader of the far-right party in her end-of-year press conference, Initially scheduled for the end of December but postponed for health reasons.
Pozzolo, 38, admitted having gone with a weapon, a 22-caliber mini-pistol, to a party organized on the premises of a cultural association in Rosazza, a town of a hundred inhabitants 70 kilometers from Turin (northwest).
The 31-year-old victim, who was slightly injured in the leg, was one of thirty guests.
“I confirm that the shot was fired accidentally with a legal pistol that belongs to me, but it was not me who shot,” said the deputy, known for having opposed vaccines and the health passport during the pandemic.
However, these explanations did not convince Meloni. “Someone had irresponsible behavior, and the person who was not responsible is the owner of this weapon,” he said.
“This is not right for any Italian, much less for a parliamentarian and much less for a parliamentarian from Fratelli d’Italia,” he said. “As you can see, I intend to be stern in this matter,” she added.
The prosecutor’s office announced in a statement the opening of an investigation into the incident, the subject of contradictory versions.