Garlasco, the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office will acquire the documents on the blackmail of the priest

The Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office, which has opened a new line of investigation into the murder of Chiara Poggi on 13 August 2007 in Garlasco (Pavia), will in the next few days acquire the documents of the investigation into the red-light blackmail of the former rector of the sanctuary, Don Gregorio Vitali.

Father Gregorio, a religious man well known in the Pavia area, was the victim of sexual blackmail orchestrated by two Romanians: Flavius Savu and Florin Tanasie. According to the investigators' findings, the two had lured the priest with the intention of filming him in compromising situations and then blackmailing him. The content of the filming was of a sexual nature. After obtaining the video, the two started to threaten him, asking him for money not to release the footage. The affair came to light when Don Vitali found the courage to denounce the blackmail to the authorities, despite the damage to his image and the delicacy of his role.

The investigation led to the identification and indictment of the two Romanians. In 2014, the court in Pavia convicted Flavius Savu and Florin Tanasie of aggravated extortion. However, at the time of the conviction, the two were already untraceable: they had gone into hiding and have been fugitives ever since, with an outstanding arrest warrant. Lawyer Massimo Lovati, one of the lawyers of Andrea Sempio (under investigation for the new investigation into the Garlasco murder), spoke in interviews about a possible 'secret' discovered by Chiara Poggi about sexual events that took place at the Bozzola sanctuary. According to the lawyer, a hitman may have killed the girl in the villa in Via Pascoli, to prevent her from talking.

Meanwhile, other people, in addition to those already scheduled, will be subjected to DNA sampling in view of the evidentiary incident that the forensic police will start on 17 June. The twins Paola and Stefania Cappa, Chiara's cousins, Marco Panzarasa, a friend of the victim and Alberto Stasi, friends of Marco Poggi (Chiara's brother), the forensic scientist who entered the villa to examine the corpse, and some investigators will be subjected to the sampling at a clinic in Milan. The list is likely to grow longer, because Judge Daniela Garlaschelli has also authorised the inclusion of other names, based on the assessments of the party consultants and lawyers.