Naples – “Perhaps before thinking about reclaiming the symbol of the Movement, Beppe Grillo should take care of compensating those who were unjustly expelled, as happened in Naples in 2016”.
This is the attack of the independent councilor of the Campania Region, Marì Muscarà, a former member of the 5 Star Movement, who has always been critical of the centralist and top-down drift of the party founded by the Genoese comedian.
At the center of the controversy is a recent ruling by the Court of Naples, dated May 12, 2025, which ordered the old M5S – of which Grillo is still the legal representative – to pay almost 60 thousand euros to the lawyer Roberto Ionta. The man was one of the 36 activists expelled in 2016 for having expressed dissent in a private chat on Facebook.
“They were active citizens, not blind militants,” Muscarà recalls, “and for this reason they were kicked out. Guilty only of having expressed doubts about the Neapolitan management then under the leadership of Roberto Fico, defined by Grillo as 'the mister who can do whatever he wants'.” A management, the councilor emphasizes, “that frightened those who wanted full control over candidacies and internal dynamics.”
According to the ruling, the expulsion was deemed illegitimate and caused moral damage and loss of opportunity for the lawyer Ionta. A “serious admission of error – attacks Muscarà – by those who preached direct democracy and then expelled those who dared to speak”.
The councilor also points the finger at Grillo's recent statements, who announced legal action to take back the symbol of the Movement: "But the real problem - she adds - is another: what if the other 34 expelled, excluding the so-called 'spy', also decided to sue? Sixty thousand euros for each would mean over two million euros. Perhaps this also explains some recent nervousness...".
Muscarà finally recalls that in 2016 the expelled activists even protested with a hunger strike to denounce the injustice suffered: "Those who today are agitated by talking about symbols and values - he concludes - yesterday trampled on the dignity of those who truly defended those values. Time, it seems, is presenting the bill".
Article published on 4 June 2025 - 15:07
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