Attack on Ranucci: Valter Lavitola remains in prison – the ‘mafia-related’ aggravating circumstance has been confirmed

Valter Lavitola remains in prison, having confessed to being the instigator of the attack on the journalist Sigfrido Ranucci. The Rome Court of Review has rejected the’application submitted by the defence and upheld the pre-trial detention order. The aggravating circumstance of ‘mafia-style methods’ also remains in dispute.

‘The Review Court has upheld the interim order; clearly, we fully respect the decisions of the judiciary, even though we do not agree with them at all, either in fact or in law. We will now await the publication of the grounds for the decision, which are due within 45 days, but we will lodge an appeal today with the Court of Cassation – that is, as a matter of urgency – against the investigating judge’s order rejecting our application regarding the loss of effectiveness of the pre-trial detention, which we believe is well-founded.” This was stated by Sergio Cola, Lavitola’s defence lawyer.

Meanwhile, the investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office is continuing. The experts tasked with examining the computer equipment seized from Lavitola and the other four suspects – who are accused of carrying out the attack on Ranucci – have almost completed their report.

The report will be handed over to the prosecutors shortly. There is a vast amount of material stored on the seized smartphones and computers, particularly on one of the phones linked to Lavitola.