House scuffle, Sgarbi ejected and dragged away by clerks

Art historian Vittorio Sgarbi was the protagonist of a heated tussle in the Chamber of Deputies after one of his speeches on the Palamara case: Sgarbi (Mixed Group), in heated words, had proposed the opening of a commission of inquiry on magistrates: “we must open an urgent commission of inquiry against the criminality of magistrates who do the opposite of their work, worse than criminals, remembering that Cossiga called the National Association of Magistrates ’a mafia association. The CSM has betrayed its function. I call for a parliamentary commission for the new magistrates’ tangentopolis: palamaropoli.”

Sgarbi was countered by Forza Italia deputy Giusi Bartolozzi (by profession herself a magistrate): “To hear from a colleague,” she said, “that the entire judiciary is mafia is horrifying” (all while Sgarbi responded over Bartolozzi’s words by saying that he only wanted to refer to Cossiga’s words and the Palamara case). At that point, as Sgarbi began to rail against his colleague, Congresswoman Mara Carfagna, who was presiding over the session, expelled Sgarbi from the chamber. The art historian would not leave his seat, however, so four clerks intervened and dragged him away by weight, taking him by the legs and arms.

Against the epithets addressed by Sgarbi to Bartolozzi and later to Carfagna(here is the video of his ... scenic expulsion) the Speaker of the House, Roberto Fico, spoke out with words of condemnation: “indecent and unworthy the sexist behavior of Congressman Sgarbi today in the Chamber. I have mandated the Quaestors to open an investigation to take appropriate action. My full solidarity to Congresswoman Giusi Bartolozzi and Vice President Mara Carfagna.”

“The courtroom recordings,” Sgarbi later defended himself in a note released to the press, “did not fully capture what I said to Forza Italia deputy Giusi Bartolozzi. I only evoked the name of Silvio Berlusconi to her, and therefore to denounce her hypocrisy. And for a simple reason. Bartolozzi was a candidate in Forza Italia because Gaetano Armao, on comrade, also from Forza Italia, who is a current councilor in the Sicilian Regional Council, asked for it. No offense taken. Just the simple truth. I understand that remembering this today that you defend, without any distinction, the judiciary, creates embarrassment and arouses hysterical reactions, even from those who offer you solidarity. But you cannot abstractly defend the judiciary without remembering that you were a candidate of the most targeted victim of the Italian judiciary, Silvio Berlusconi. If Forza Italia today is reduced to area code numbers, it is also because of this. Because battles of principle, such as that for an independent and non-politicized judiciary, have been replaced by battles of personal gain.”

House scuffle, Sgarbi ejected and dragged away by clerks

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.