Wednesday evening, Giuseppe Conte assured that he was "not at all worried" and "would conscientiously report [...] all the facts" to his "knowledge". The Italian Prime Minister was heard for almost three hours Friday by a magistrate on the management of the coronavirus crisis.
Bergamo prosecutor Maria Cristina Rota interviewed the head of government within the prime minister's office in Rome as part of an investigation into possible delays in the creation of "red zones" in March communes in the north of the country, as the epidemic exploded.
The magistrate and her team, who arrived at the prime minister's office early in the morning in front of the journalists' cameras, were also to hear the ministers of health, Roberto Speranza, and of the interior, Luciana Lamorgese.
Bergamo, martyr city
The prosecution of Bergamo, a martyr city in the Lombardy region and epicenter of the epidemic that struck Italy from the beginning of February to May and killed more than 34,000 people, is conducting several separate investigations linked to this tragedy.
One of them has hit the headlines in recent days in Italy. It concerns the delays in the creation of a "red zone" comprising two municipalities in this department, Nembro and Alzano Lombardo, particularly affected by the Covid-19.
The central government and the leaders of Lombardy reject the responsibility for this delay, which had a dramatic impact with the saturation of the health system, the increase in mortality and the spread of the new coronavirus in this region.
As part of this investigation, Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Italian Higher Institute of Health (ISS), who advised the government in the management of the crisis, was heard on Wednesday evening by the magistrates of Bergamo, but nothing n filtered on this hearing.
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VIDEO. When Bergamo counted its dead
The President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, and his regional health official, Giulio Gallera, were heard at the end of May, saying that the government decided to establish the "red zone" in Rome.
For the Minister of Regional Affairs, Francesco Boccia, the region could have set up the same "red zones" by itself, the law authorizing it. The whole question concerns who, from the central government or from Lombardy, should have taken this decision between March 3 and 9.
Finally, Giuseppe Conte had ended up choosing to make the whole country a "red zone", by a decree signed on March 7 and which came into force two days later.