Italy. Nardulli’s slander trial begins for false accusations in his lawsuit against two journalists

Questo articolo è disponibile anche in:

A continuation of the proceedings for the January 7^th, 2019, attack in the Verano Cemetery – Ossigeno is assisting the two journalists who have filed civil actions

OSSIGENO, October 23^rd, 2025 – On December 18^th, a second criminal trial will begin before the preliminary hearing judge of the Rome Court against Vincenzo Nardulli, a right-wing figure, accused of slander against former L’Espresso journalists Federico Marconi and Paolo Marchetti who were attacked at the Verano Cemetery on January 7^th, 2019, where they had been sent by the weekly to cover a gathering of far-right militants commemorating the deaths of co-militants in 1978 in via Acca Larenzia. The slander, according to the prosecution, was committed in the text of the lawsuit Nardulli subsequently filed against the two journalists, falsely reconstructing the incident. For that incident, Vincenzo Nardulli had already been sentenced in 2020 to five years and six months for robbery by violently appropriating the memory cards containing the photographs and videos taken by the two journalists.

The new proceedings follow the annulment due to procedural flaws of the similar slander trial for which Vincenzo Nardulli had already been indicted four years ago.

THE ACCUSATION – According to the Rome Prosecutor’s Office, represented by the Public Prosecutor Eugenio Albamonte, Nardulli filed a slanderous lawsuit against the two journalists, falsely accusing them of having made specious statements to investigators regarding the attack they suffered at the Verano Cemetery on January 7^th, 2019.

OSSIGENO which has joined the civil action, will also cover the legal costs of the two journalists in this trial. They will be assisted by the lawyer Andrea Di Pietro, coordinator of Ossigeno’s Legal Aid Desk, which has been working in partnership with the London-based NGO Media Defence since 2015. This support allows the Ossigeno organisation—the only one in Italy in this field—to mitigate the legal costs of journalists involved in legal proceedings deemed strategically important for the protection of press freedom.

THE CONTEXT – The new trial is an offshoot of the 2019 proceedings relating to the attack suffered by Marconi and Marchetti. That day, the two journalists were at the Verano Monumental Cemetery to cover, on behalf of L’Espresso, a demonstration organised by far-right groups in memory of the deaths of militants in via Acca Larentia. During the report, they were attacked, threatened, and had their memory cards containing the photographs and videos stolen.

ASP