whitebeard

Don't curse the darkness, light a candle.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

25 June 2007

Information with silencer

Antonio Di Pietro is coming out against the intercept law and he has written me a letter. By now we are reduced to getting judicial information to find out what is happening. And they even want to take that away from us. The Prodi government was born dead with the abortion of the nomination of Mastella at the Ministry of Justice. Even the bosses of Cosa Nostra are against the Pardon.

"Dear Beppe,
I am writing to you to denounce the attempt to put a gag on information with the law against the intercepts that is soon to be voted on in the Senate.
Italia dei Valori will put forward some amendments to change the law. If they are not accepted we will vote against it even if the government makes it a vote of confidence. Our amendments are aimed at eliminating heavy sanctions, even criminal ones against journalists who are the weak link in the chain, and to guarantee the possibility of getting access to the intercepts during the preliminary investigations once they have been made available to both sides and recognised as relevant to the criminal proceedings.
With the new law, because of the duration of the trials, in Italy nothing would ever be known. For example, we wouldn't have found out about the conversations between Fazio and Fiorani, and Fazio would still be Governor of the Bank of Italy.
The politicians are trying to protect themselves, thus denying the right of the citizens to have the possibility of checking up on their "political" conduct and I emphasise "political" and not criminal. The intercepts of D'Alema and Fassino, like those of the politicians connected to Berlusconi, have in fact a "political" significance and for this reason, they cannot and must not be removed from the scrutiny of the voters. However I find it depressing that politicians are taking an interest in banks and not in the problems of the citizens.
Even the European Court of Human Rights has given its full support to our decision to not vote for the intercept law in the Senate. It has done this with a recent decision that has condemned France for violating the liberty of expression in relation to the conviction by French courts of two journalists for the publication of a book on the illegal intercept system during the Mitterrand presidency.
Whereas the French judges gave priority to the secrecy of the proceedings, the European Court reinforced the role of the press in making known relevant facts and particularly where politicians were involved.
The European Court said it is legitimate to protect the secrecy of the proceedings, but that the right to information has priority over that. Furthermore, the application of a penalty (even if it is a monetary one) and the affirmation of the civil responsibility of the journalist has a clear dissuasive effect on the exercise of the freedom of the press.
This is why we are committed to preserving this freedom in the Justice Commission at first and then in the Senate, where we will present rigorous amendments to stop information from being gagged.
Apart from our opposition to the law, and I hope this will come from others as well, what is needed is strong popular support to maintain the freedom of information, or at least to not see it gagged even more.
This is why I am appealing to you and to your readers and I am inviting you all to come to the public event on Monday 25 June 2007 "La scomparsa dell'informazione" {The disappearance of information} in Milan, at 8.45pm, Camera del Lavoro, Corso di Porta Vittoria with myself, Beha, Gomez, Kort and Pons. Greetings."