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The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been called to testify next July in a trial in which she demands compensation of 100,000 euros from two Italians accused of manipulating her face on the Internet, as reported this week by the court of the municipality of Sassari. , in Sardinia.
Meloni was the victim of a montage, through a fake pornographic video in which her face was placed on the body of an actress who appeared naked while having sexual relations with several men.
The manipulated recording, which remained on the network for a few months, was seen by millions of Internet users in 2020, when the leader of the Brothers of Italy was still in the opposition in the transalpine country.
When Meloni's collaborators discovered the video, the politician reported it to the police, who opened an investigation and next July she must testify, as a plaintiff, in the Sardinian court handling the case.
Those accused of defaming the now prime minister by manipulating and publishing the images on a pornographic website in the United States are two Sardinian men: one 40 years old, and his father, 73. Investigators tracked down the usernames used in the website and the telephone line from which the images were uploaded to decipher their identity.
Based on the conclusions of the Prosecutor's Office, which searched the home of the accused, the son used computer programs to modify the images and place Giorgia Meloni's face in an existing recording, while the father is implicated because his telephone line to distribute the images.
The far-right prime minister had requested not to testify at the trial, but the defense requested her appearance and the judge handling the investigation has accepted the request, according to several Italian media.
The defense lawyer has also asked that the accusation against the father be canceled in exchange for doing community benefit work, and the court must decide soon.
The Prime Minister's lawyer, Maria Giulia Marongiu, requests compensation of 100,000 euros from the accused for image damage and has announced that if they are sentenced to pay it, Meloni will donate it in full to the women's solidarity fund. victims of violence, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior.
With this gesture, according to the lawyer, Meloni intends to send “a message to all women victims of this type of abuse so that they are not afraid to report it.”
The lawyer has also explained that it is "a symbolic figure", that she "wants to contribute to the protection of the victims, women who, often without knowing it, are targets of this type of crime."
A few days ago, the prime minister's personal profile on Instagram was attacked by hackers who posted a fake message on Meloni's account with a photo of Elon Musk announcing cryptocurrencies.
The leader of the Brothers of Italy has been criticized for putting national security at risk by not using protection systems, such as two-step verification, on her personal social media profiles.
Apparently, the computer attack had not even been very complex or advanced, although it achieved its objective of spreading the false publication.
The Government has excused itself, claiming that the account that suffered the intrusion was Meloni's "historical" profile and not the official one, and that the attack was neutralized in a short time, so it has had no consequences.
However, the police are investigating what happened.
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