“I hope they shoot you soon”: Threats to the judge who stopped migrants in Albania

Hate mail bombing against Silvia Albano, one of the six magistrates of the Court of Rome who spoke out against sending migrants to Albania. An investigation has been opened against 'Patriota' and other fake authors of the email

by Cristina Rossi and Vittorio di Mambro

ROME – “I hope they shoot you soon”, “We will celebrate your death”, “It will be a beautiful day when they kill you”, “I wish you a lead dress”: this is the tenor of the hate messages that arrived by email to one of the six judges of the Court of Rome, ‘guilty’ of having “lit the fuse” of the migrant centers in Albania and having made the bomb explode on the government. Thus, concerned about the avalanche of threats received, Silvia Albano, president of Magistratura democratica and member of the Associazione nazionale magistrati filed a formal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office of Rome.

MAILBOMBING WITH DEATH THREATS FROM A “PATRIOT” & SIMILAR

What worried the magistrate, so much so that she filed a complaint, was not only the content of the explicit death threats, but also the manner and frequency with which she received them. They did not arrive just generically on social media, in debates on the issue of migrants, but also on her personal emails at the Ministry of Justice and in the electronic mailbox of Magistratura democratica, of which Albano is president. The target of those hate messages was precisely her, who received – after the ruling of the Court of Rome against the government’s initiative – up to thirty of these emails a day. Some anonymous, others signed with their name and surname (fake), others still with the title “Patriot” or similar. The investigation is now in the hands of the computer crimes group of the Rome prosecutor’s office, where the complaint was filed, but the documents will be immediately sent to Perugia, which is competent for the judicial affairs of the magistrates of the Capital.

“CAMPAIGN OF DISCREDITS AGAINST MAGISTRATES LEADS TO A CLIMATE OF HATE”

The story is confirmed by Medel (Magistracy democratic) from social channels which, expressing strong concern, places it in the context of the “public attacks and the ongoing media campaign against the judiciary following the decisions issued by the international protection section of the Court of Rome in relation to the first cases of application of the Italy-Albania Protocol”. And again,
“this alarm is aggravated by the attacks carried out, ‘by naming and shaming’ to one of the judges of the section for the positions expressed in the public debate and in the associative commitment on the issue of migrants and fundamental rights”. So, “the discrediting campaign that was unleashed against Roman magistrates, and in particular against Silvia Albano – a note from Md reports – has contributed to building a climate of opposition, of hatred, which has finally transcended into serious threats to her safety and her life”.

THE SOLIDARITY OF (LEFT-WING) POLITICS

From the political world, solidarity with Judge Albano is expressed by Debora Serracchiani, Pd deputy and head of Justice, Angelo Bonelli, Avs deputy, and finally Riccardo Magi, secretary of +Europa.

“Solidarity with Judge Silvia Albano, threatened with death for her work in the section of the Tribunal specializing in immigration – writes Serracchiani on X – Very serious threats that strike a magistrate in his functions and fueled by an irresponsible clash between the powers of the State”.
“I express my full solidarity with Judge Silvia Albano, the object of serious threats for having carried out her duty – Bonelli finally joins – What happened is the result of the climate of attack against the judiciary that has as its aim its delegitimization, a climate artfully created by the right in this country that does not accept the sentences of the courts because they would like to exercise executive and judicial power together”.

“After a week of verbal violence by the government and the right-wing majority against Judge Albano, guilty of having carried out her work in the case of migrants in Albania, death threats are arriving. This is the fruit of the climate of hatred that reigns in the country when someone does not do what is pleasing to the majority. Solidarity with Judge Albano”. Says the secretary of +Europa, Riccardo Magi. “Moreover, as also confirmed by the Union of Criminal Chambers, Judge Albano is paying the price of a controversy sparked by Palazzo Chigi that has no technical foundation, given that, with the panel of judges, she limited herself to applying the European legislation of reference on migrants”, concludes Magi.