Italy. Insults and lawsuits during the municipal election campaign

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In Monfalcone  candidate refused to speak with journalist Serena Pizzi because she is a woman – The former mayor threatened to sue reporter

OSSIGENO June 26^th  2025 – Journalist Serena Pizzi, a correspondent for the Italian Rete4 programme “Fuori dal Coro,” was insulted by the mayoral candidate from an Islamic list, who refused to answer her questions because she is a woman. Around the same time, former mayor Anna Maria Cisint, now a Europarliamentarian for the Italian Lega party, harshly attacked journalist Gianni Barbacetto of “Il Fatto Quotidiano” on social media for writing an article she disliked. The two incidents occurred last April, during the municipal election campaign in Monfalcone, a major port in the province of Gorizia, where shipbuilder Fincantieri employs many foreign workers among whom a large Muslim community has formed.

SERENA PIZZI – The Rete4 correspondent had asked Bou Konate, a candidate for mayor of Monfalcone on an Islamic list, some questions. She asked him why there are still illegal mosques in the city, despite the Council of State’s ruling against them. He initially tried to avoid her, then said, “I don’t have to answer to you; send me your boss.” Serena Pizzi asked him why he didn’t think she was worthy of speaking to him, and Konate replied, “You’re too young.” “Is it because my boss is a man?” the journalist insisted, receiving the candidate’s words at the end of the conversation: “Because he’s at my level.”

GIANNI BARBACETTO – After the publication of an article by the journalist in “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, accompanied by a recent photo of  the Europarliamentarian for the Italian Lega party Anna Maria Cisint during the election campaign in the presence of a  former Camorra crime syndicate hitman and former collaborator with justice, she reacted by announcing that she was ready to sue Barbacetto, his editor Marco Travaglio, and “all those who have enjoyed making very serious insinuations.”

In a live video broadcast on her social media channels, she stated: “I will not fall into the trap that has been laid for me in recent days in a national newspaper. Unfortunately, there are those for whom it is the only approach  and are waging a dirty war that makes the accusation almost ridiculous.” 

The journalist responded with a post,: “The former mayor of Monfalcone, Anna Maria Cisint of the Northern Lega, accuses me of having written fabrications yesterday in “Il Fatto Quotidiano” and has announced a defamation lawsuit. I hope she actually files a lawsuit: that way she will have to prove that I wrote fabrications—which ones? And she will have to answer for defamation against me.” LT/wt