Toti under house arrest, the investigating judge: “He can still corrupt for the 2025 elections”. The Democratic Party: “He resigns”
This is why, according to judge Paola Faggioni, Toti must remain under house arrest. on the one hand it could put pressure on officials and managers, on the other it could pollute the evidence or repeat the crime
GENOA – For the president of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti, “the precautionary need remains connected to the concrete and current danger of recurrence of similar criminal conduct”, in particular “in view of the next regional electoral competitions in 2025 (or any further electoral competitions)”, for which Toti himself “had, moreover, already started the relevant fundraising”. The investigating judge of the Court of Genoa, Paola Faggioni, writes this in the order rejecting the request for revocation or, alternatively, replacement of house arrest for the governor filed today. For the magistrate “no supervening elements capable of modifying the serious circumstantial evidence against him emerged”, not even “after the outcome of the interrogation given by the suspect before the public prosecutor”. Consequently, he underlines, “the precautionary needs remainas highlighted in the original precautionary order”.
THE POSSIBLE “CONDITIONS” ON OFFICIALS AND MANAGERS
Furthermore, Faggioni notes that the needs connected to the danger of evidential pollution also remain “in a current and concrete way”, taking into account the particular phase of the proceedings, in which the investigations are in full progress and , in particular, hearings are underway of officials and managers of the Liguria Region who are aware of the facts in question, who could well be subjected to conditioning or pressure from the suspect to provide a convenient reconstruction of the events. “. This risk, he adds, “clearly appears particularly high where the suspect resumes the exercise of the functions performed”. In short, for the judge house arrest appears to be a measure “proportionate to the seriousness of the facts and adequate in relation to the high level of precautionary needs to be satisfied”.
MIXED MEASURES “ARE INADEQUATE”
Faggioni also recalls that the application of a less punitive interdictory measure “such as that of suspension from the exercise of a public office or service, is precluded by the prohibition provided for in the third paragraph of article 289 of the Code of criminal procedure, which establishes that ‘the measure does not apply to elective offices held by direct popular investiture’ (such as that held by the President of the Liguria Region)”. In any case, he concludes, “the application of less afflictive precautionary measures appears, at present, completely inadequate with respect to the precautionary needs still present”.
NATALE (PD): “ENOUGH ADDENCE, TOTI RESIGN AND VOTE”
“Enough therapeutic fury towards the Ligurian citizens. Liguria needs a president who is fully capable of his duties. We ask Toti for an act of responsibility and transparency: he resigns and allows the Ligurians to go to the vote as soon as possible.” Thus to the Dire agency the secretary of the Democratic Party in Liguria, Davide Natale, commenting on the rejection by the investigating judge Paola Faggioni of the request to revoke the house arrest for the governor. “It should be noted that we can no longer go forward in this way: there are very important challenges to face – continues the dem – wanting to maintain this situation is yet another and increasingly heavy attack that this centre-right is doing to the Ligurians, to the Ligurian companies and to those who want to come and invest in Liguria”.