Salim El Koudri, the 31-year-old who, on 16 May, drove into a crowd in the centre of Modena in Italy, killing one person and injuring seven, will not be charged with terrorism – this has been decided by Morena Plazzi, the public prosecutor responsible for terrorism cases.
This has caused a stir given that El Koudri had made hateful statements against the West, said that Italy should be destroyed, and carried out online searches for IS and Osama bin Laden, as well as videos and details of a number of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe.
The public prosecutor’s decision has been criticised by Deborah De Cicco, the lawyer for Giovanni Esposito, the brother of the murdered Monica Esposito, reports ANSA.
De Cicco also states that Plazzi is a judge who belongs to the progressive wing of the left within Italy’s National Judges’ Association, according to the Italian news agency (the public prosecution service in Italy falls under the jurisdiction of the courts and not the executive branch).
She also points out that Plazzi has signed an appeal from an initiative called ‘Giuristi per Gaza’ (Lawyers for Gaza).
De Cicco’s criticism has prompted the Judges’ Association in the Emilia-Romagna region to come to Plazzi’s defence. Her personal views have nothing to do with the case, according to a statement from the association.
