Milan – The Asti prosecutor's office has signed the warrant for the execution of jeweler Mario Roggero, who was sentenced to 14 years and nine months in prison for the double homicide of two robbers during a robbery in 2021.
Roggero turned himself in at the Bollate prison in Milan, as confirmed by his lawyer, Sergio Novani, one of his defense attorneys. The lawyer also noted that the man's wife submitted a request for clemency this morning.
The wife of the Grinzane jeweler submits a request for pardon to the President.
Mariangela Sandrone, wife of the jeweler from Grinzane Cavour, in the Cuneo area, has submitted her husband's application to President Sergio Mattarella.
Since the incident occurred on April 28, 2021, Roggero has received numerous messages of solidarity from political and entertainment figures. The latest incident dates back to last June, when radio host Giuseppe Cruciani and Futuro Nazionale leader Roberto Vannacci appeared on stage in Vicenza wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "We are all Mario Roggero."
Roggero's daughter: I'm very pessimistic about grace. I think Dad has a lot of plans.
This morning, in an interview with La Stampa, Silvia Roggero, one of the jeweler's daughters, said she was "very pessimistic" about her father's pardon. "I don't want to take sides, neither left nor right. I just want a bit of truth. Too many people speak without knowing the facts," she said. "We're a family from the land, we're used to not playing the victim, nor complaining, nor even despairing," she argued. "My mother doesn't speak much, but she's as firm as a rock.
A courageous woman. A rock.” “He always tries to be confident, in every situation, even if he has a thousand facets, like all of us deep down. He often repeats this phrase in his family: 'From good to better.' It's his rule of life: hope never dies,” says Silvia, speaking of her father. As for the time he will spend in prison, she says: “I think he has many plans. He's already received three offers to write a book, and a director has contacted him to turn his story into a film. In any case, we will be close to him.”
Ministers Nordio and Crosetto side with the convicted man. National Magistrates' Association (ANM) and Unicost attack the politicians.
The Mario Roggero case continues to inflame not only national public opinion, but also political leaders. The 72-year-old jeweler from Gallo di Grinzane Cavour, in the province of Cuneo, has been definitively convicted of the voluntary homicide of two robbers (Giuseppe Mazzarino and Andrea Spinelli) and the attempted murder of a third (Alessandro Modica), in connection with the shooting that occurred on April 28, 2021.
The judges' ruling, corrected by law because it did not fall within the scope of self-defense, sparked a genuine outcry, with many immediately denouncing the excessive and unjust sentence. Many voices, including those from the worlds of pop culture, entertainment, and sports, were raised to protest the fate of Mario Roggero, who now, at 72, is destined to serve his sentence in prison.
Both at first instance and on appeal—where the sentence was 14 years and 9 months—the judges ruled out the applicability of self-defense: Roggero chased the robbers, armed with a toy gun and a knife, shooting in rapid succession at their car parked outside the jewelry store. Alessandro Modica, the gang's driver, was wounded and was the only one to survive. At the first instance trial in Asti, the trial ended with a 17-year sentence.
All the center-right leaders have intervened in the matter in support of the jeweler, as has Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, who first initiated the investigation into Roggero's pardon and was forced to backtrack after being warned by President Sergio Mattarella, who, according to the Constitution, is the only one who can grant the request.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto also intervened on the matter yesterday, writing in X: "I think every possibility should be explored to allow him to return home," adding that for years there has been "a jurisprudence that interprets the laws to the point of distorting them" and that "even murderers of state servants are allowed to be released after just a few years, which is why," he concluded, "what happened to Roggero is unjust, incomprehensible, and even difficult to accept."
The National Association of Magistrates' Association responded promptly: "We have great respect for the principle of autonomy and independence of the judiciary, and we do not delve into the merits of individual rulings. However, I would like to state one thing clearly: the judges at all three levels of jurisdiction have consistently applied the law, as is right and proper, because that is the role assigned to them by law. I therefore find the statements of a minister surprising, who even invokes the judge's power to revise them, a task that belongs solely to the legislature, while at the same time delegitimizing the judiciary with accusations of double standards that are as odious as they are general," said Giuseppe Tango, president of the National Magistrates' Association, regarding Minister Crosetto's statements on the Roggero ruling.
Meanwhile, Unicost released a statement calling for respect for roles and institutions: "The words of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto are unacceptable as they demonstrate a lack of awareness of the fundamental principles of the rule of law. In a democratic system, respect for rulings and institutional roles is essential. The judiciary exercises its jurisdictional function by applying the law, to which it is subject, as established by the Constitution."
This is what the National Directorate of Unity for the Constitution, a branch of the National Magistrates' Association (ANM), said in a statement regarding the minister's statements. "At present, the lack of reasons for the ruling, which will be filed within the legal deadline, makes any assessment of the merits of the measure premature and unfounded," it added. "Given the sensitive nature of the matter, Unicost reiterates the need for everyone, particularly those holding government positions, to adhere to the principle of separation of powers and refrain from making statements that could undermine citizens' trust in the judiciary. At the same time, we hope that this serious incident will not be further exploited," it concluded.
The matter is very complex but I don't know what to say, the judges have decided and people are talking without knowing the facts, the family is tired and confused, the jeweler seems to have plans but no one knows the truth, we have to wait for the reasons for the sentence, it creates too much confusion.
It's an incredible story, so complex and divisive that it seems everyone is partly right. It is not a classic self-defense, but technically it is an excess of defense, even if, in reality, it is difficult to define it as such. The story is similar to other emblematic cases, such as a well-known one that occurred recently in Naples, also involving a toy gun, and which also divided and continues to divide public opinion. The differences are also notable, however, because at that time even a representative of the police force was involved and on the other side there was a young boy. Here, however, the sentence seems objectively exaggerated, because after all, these were robbers, and in situations like this one always shoots in self-defense. Then, in the heat of the moment, it can also happen that one goes further, but the primary goal is always to protect one's family and the primary responsibility always lies with the aggressor. Obviously, the victim cannot know whether he is being threatened with a real or toy gun. And in any case the robbers also had knives. Incidentally, the first problem is always the legislators. Indeed, is it possible that, to resolve the incredible issue of compensation which, adding insult to injury, would even be due to the robbers and their relatives, we should have waited for this government's bill? Is it possible that in all these years no one had ever thought of erasing this disgrace? It's true that the government's interference in the possible pardon seems excessive, and Mattarella was right to remind the minister, but it's also true that the sentence seems truly disproportionate, and therefore I believe our President would do well to at least halve it. Otherwise, he will do nothing but join the judges in unwillingly increasing consensus for a government and a majority that certainly do not deserve it. The biggest absurdity was then said by the representatives of the League, who would even like to propose the candidacy of the convicted man in their ranks (Sic!), and on what basis then? But do we realize this?!… Now, with the political parenthesis closed, and aside from the aforementioned "electoral wallowing", it cannot be denied that, whatever the ANM and the magistrates' associations may say, double standards are indeed there, and have been for some time now! Objectively, how can we expect citizens to respect a judicial system that is now in complete disrepair, as is increasingly evident every day, and that now barely gets one sentence out of a thousand right? Furthermore, the most absurd paradox lies in the fact that a system that is foundering in its own exaggerated do-goodism, now protecting criminals at the expense of victims (and emptying the word "justice" of all meaning), has instead failed to use this do-goodism at all that one time it would have been necessary!… How can we then not talk about unequal treatment? Even leaving aside the aforementioned absurd concessions to terrorists of all stripes in past decades, it would be enough to cite just one sensational case, just recently: consider that the Autostrade manager, who skimped on safety, causing the collapse of the Morandi Bridge and the deaths of 43 people, was sentenced to just twelve years, even two years less than the jeweler!… Is there still any need, then, to repeat for the umpteenth time that ours is a country in reverse?