Arzano, ruling on ineligibility: the case ends up in parliament

Arzano. Ruling on ineligibility: the case ends up in Parliament. The Prefecture of Naples and the three commissioners governing the municipality of Arzano have not appeared before the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) for the hearing on the merits of the third dissolution for mafia-related reasons. A true paradox is written in black and white both by the civil judge who ruled on the request for ineligibility filed by the Ministry of the Interior against former administrators Fiorella Esposito, Alessandro Merenda, Anna Errichiello, and Rosario Errichiello, and on the scheduling of the first hearing before the TAR. In both cases, the first case revealed a "passive" appearance with no cross-examination, while in the other, the Prefecture's substantive absence was entirely absent from the constituent documents. And amid all this hubbub, there was yet another attack on the Antonino Caponnetto Anti-Mafia Association by former mayor Esposito and his entourage, after the Anti-Mafia Association announced it would take the case to the Anti-Mafia Commission. Former Le Monde journalist Laura Caputo and the Caponnetto Association had brought the Arzano case to national attention, citing the ineligibility ruling against former mayor Fiorella Esposito, two former councilors, and a city councilor. The latter had already been widely certified by the Anti-Mafia Commission for ties to the Camorra (as the Aversa court itself does not deny, even on this occasion). The appeal was virtually upheld due to a lack of documents (no redactions) and evidence to support the prosecution's case. A judgment, therefore, lacking in merit, one-sided in its defense, and almost a foregone conclusion. The serious peculiarity concerns the fact that after the preliminary hearing, during which only the dissolution decree published in the Official Journal and the related Prefecture report were filed, both including the word "OMISSIS," there was nothing further from the Ministry of the Interior to support the defense and duly support the prosecution. So much so that the judging panel itself emphasized this. This is a "short circuit" that—according to the social media site Arzano News—"leaving aside any judgment on the merits of the specific case involving the Municipality of Arzano, raises serious questions about the actions of the Ministry of the Interior and the effectiveness of the law regarding the dissolution of municipalities for mafia reasons, and consequently about those related to the ineligibility of the politicians involved. This is all the more serious in light of recent Supreme Court rulings that increasingly deem such preventive measures legitimate, even in the absence of criminal convictions. The question posed by journalist Laura Caputo remains unanswered so far—the popular social media site continues—"why wasn't the Ministry of the Interior there to defend itself 'on the merits' with its extensive documentation supporting the dissolution order and the resulting opposing argument?" (gdn)