“This is not democracy.” Thus Giuliano Castellino, former leader of Forza Nuova and accused in the trial for the assault on the CGIL, protests blocked at the barriers next to Montecitorio, by provisions of the Chamber, where he had to enter for a press conference to present his new political project, ‘Italia Libera’, the movement founded with the lawyer Carlo Taormina. His name is no longer in the list of participants, which is why the agents at the gates of the Montecitorio entrance area did not let him pass.
The former leader of Forza Nuova, Giuliano Castellino stopped while trying to enter the Chamber
“In Italy there is no free thought, there is single thought and this is a classic example,” he declared. “I came here to talk about politics with professors and lawyers but I can’t talk: Castellino can’t talk,” said the former exponent of Forza Nuova, shortly before leaving.
«It is serious that Giuliano Castellino cannot enter the temple of democracy, where everyone has entered, even characters from the red brigades. I don’t know how many parliamentarians are under investigation or accused and sit here, whom no one in fact blocks”, commented the president of the newly born Taormina party, for which “Castellino is an accused citizen, he has no convictions, he is assisted by the principle of not guilty, but he has been denied access here, even though he is the political leader of the movement we are presenting».
Controversy over the presentation of the Castellino Movement to the Chamber: “I don’t regret the CGIL, I’m innocent”
Edward Izzo
The Anpi in a tweet learned «with great satisfaction that Giuliano Castellino is out of the press conference in the Chamber of Deputies. The dignity of democratic institutions is an indispensable and unassailable asset”.
Over a year ago Castellino was among the suspects for the assault on the CGIL and his announced presence in Montecitorio has sparked a series of controversies. Yesterday, among others, the group leader of Azione-Italia Viva, Matteo Richetti and the deputy of the Democratic Party, Debora Serracchiani, were indignant at the press conference convened in the Chamber of Deputies, who had asked to block the event. Even the president of the Chamber, the Northern League Lorenzo Fontana, had asked the organizers of the conference to evaluate the opportunity of such an invitation.
Recalling the assault on October 9, 2021, Castellino said he was «innocent, I still have a trial in progress and I believe I deserve to defend myself like all Italian citizens. I have not regretted the assault on the CGIL, because I have not committed any crime and I will prove it during the legal proceedings. I have not committed any violence. However, I reiterate that the CGIL did not defend the workers in times of need, when there was a fight for the Green Pass”.