(Rome) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was invited to testify in court on July 2 in the trial of two men accused of creating fake pornographic images using her face and posting them online.
Mme Meloni, who is listed as an injured party in the suit in Sassari, Sardinia, is seeking 100,000 euros (C$146,841) in nominal damages. She will donate any compensation to an Interior Ministry fund for women victims of domestic violence, her lawyer Maria Giulia Marongiu said in an email sent to The Associated Press on Friday.
Mme Marongiu emphasizes that the alleged crime is “particularly heinous”, since it could affect “any unsuspecting woman, with damaging consequences for her reputation and private life”.
“Given the role played by Giorgia Meloni, it seemed all the more appropriate that she filed a civil suit, in the hope that this would also help raise awareness among the many women who often remain defenseless. »
According to the ANSA news agency, in 2020 Italian postal police identified the father and son who allegedly downloaded the hyper-faked images from a pornographic site in the United States by tracing the data to one of their cell phones. At the time, Mr.me Meloni was not prime minister, but head of her party, the Brothers of Italy.