French reporter on trial in Italy for damage together with protesters he was filming
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He was documenting an animal group protest that blocked a sheep slaughterhouse – Ossigeno and Media Defence provide him legal assistence
OSSIGENO June 4th 2025 – Ossigeno per l’Informazione together with media Defence will cover the costs of the defence in court of the French video reporter Pedro Brito da Fonseca, who on April 16th 2025 in Acquapendente (Viterbo) was detained by the police and charged for serious offences (violation of private property) while in reality he was simply carrying out journalistic work, documenting a dramatic protest by animal rights activists at the plant of ILCO (Ovine Meat Processing Industry), a well-known company that slaughters and processes lamb. The videographer will be defended by the lawyer Andrea Di Pietro, coordinator of the Legal Aid Desk of Ossigeno (details here) which operates in collaboration with Media Defence (details here.)
THE PROTEST – On the night of April 16th 2025, a group of animal rights activists, belonging to the collective “269 Liberation Animale”, managed to enter the plant and reach the slaughter area, chaining themselves to the slaughterhouse benches and blocking production activity for hours read.
THE REASONS FOR THE PROTEST – The gesture, claimed by the animal rights group 269, is part of a broader strategy of radical demonstrations against the meat industry, but in this case – according to the police officers who intervened – the threshold of legitimate protest was exceeded crossing the line into the category of criminally relevant acts. Investigations are continuing to ascertain any individual responsibilities and to evaluate possible links with similar actions that occurred in other parts of the country.
THE POLICE interrupted the protest and stopped and identified 34 people, charging them for theft, damage and interruption of public service. Among them, videographer Pedro Brito de Fonseca was arrested and charged . He had limited himself to following the protesters doing his job as a video reporter, documenting the phases of the protest as a direct witness of the events and clearly declaring this role at the time of his arrest.
OSSIGENO expresses concern for yet another case in which a journalist is treated like a criminal, detained, identified and charged , as if he had committed the actions on which he was simply reporting in the exercise of the right to report. It would be appropriate for the police and the Viterbo Prosecutor’s Office to immediately take note of the error committed and drop these serious charges against Pedro Brito de Fonseca and other journalists who may find themselves in the same situation.
THE INVESTIGATION – According to the investigators, the protesters carried out an organized and precisely conducted action, with a clear ideological objective, transgressing on private property, causing serious damage and interrupting production activity for hours. The activists acted with their faces covered and, according to initial investigations, they entered the plant at night by forcing access and removing numerous sheep owned by the plant owner, Piero Camilli. Furthermore, some activists reached the area designated for slaughtering lambs and chained themselves to the benches, physically blocking the machinery and forcing the company to stop operations for several hours. The intervention of the Fire Brigade was necessary to remove the chained animal rights activists. The plant returned to full operation only in the early afternoon, around 15:00.
THE ALLEGED OFFENCES – Those arrested are now being investigated for a series of serious offences : aggravated theft, damage, violence against property and interruption of public service, conducted collectively and aggravated by premeditation and organized action. The contested crimes include articles 81 cpv, 110, 337, 508, 624 and 625, paragraphs 2, 5 and 8 of the Italian Criminal Code. ASP
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