Rome. Casalesi clan boss Francesco Bidognetti and his lawyers Michele Santonastaso and Carmine D'Aniello have been indicted for threatening journalists Rosaria Capacchione and Roberto Saviano in March 2008 during a trial in Naples. The three are charged with threats aggravated by mafia methods, according to the ruling of the capital's preliminary hearing judge, Livio Sabatini. In addition to Capacchione and Saviano, the National Press Federation, represented by Giulio Vasaturo, and the Campania Order of Journalists have also joined the proceedings as civil parties. The trial against Bidognetti and his lawyers has been set for November 12. The National Federation of the Press (FNSI) was present today in Piazzale Clodio with Claudio Silvestri, a member of the council and secretary of the Campania Journalists' Union, at the preliminary hearing. Silvestri, having granted the defendants' requests to join the proceedings as civil parties, ordered the trial. "The judge allowed the Fnsi to appear in court, recognizing the union as directly harmed by the mafia-like conduct attributed to the defendants, which impacted the exercise of the constitutional right to freedom of information," explains lawyer Giulio Vasaturo, who is representing the National Federation of the Italian Press in the case. "We thank Vasaturo and the SUGC," Raffaele Lorusso and Giuseppe Giulietti, general secretary and president of the Fnsi, stated. "We also urge our colleagues to act as media escorts for Rosaria Capacchione and Roberto Saviano. We were in court this morning and will be back in court on September 20, along with Usigrai, the editorial board of Tg3, Articolo21, Libera, and all the associations that have joined the #NoiNonArchiviamo campaign, for the hearing regarding the request to close the investigation into the murders of Ilaria Alpi and Miran Hrovatin."
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