Graviano wants to read books on the mafia in prison, Cassation accepts request
December 22, 2023
The Supreme Court postponed the order of the Court of Reggio Calabria which had placed the block on three volumes
The Court of Cassation annulled with postponement the order with which the Court of Reggio Calabria, last July, had blocked three books on the mafia purchased by the Brancaccio boss Giuseppe Graviano through the company inside the Terni prison where he is detained under 41 bis. In particular, these are volumes that were part of the "History of organized crime" series published last year as an attachment to the Gazzetta dello Sport . The books concerned topics related to Cosa Nostra. After the authorization received from the Surveillance Court of Spoleto, the Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria, where Graviano was accused in the "'Ndrangheta massacre" trial, ordered the withholding of the books to prevent the boss from being able to "acquire information, news on the events covered - it is written in the provision - which can be used to develop strategies and issue provisions within the mafia context to which they belong". The blocking of the books was then confirmed by the Court of Reggio Calabria "taking into account the subject matter covered by the writings and the personality of the subject". The judge's order was appealed to the Supreme Court where the lawyer Vincenzo Dascola , Graviano's defender, argued in his appeal that the withholding of the volumes by the Terni prison occurred "in clear violation of the law" because "the penitentiary system" relating to 41bis "does not limit the right of prisoners under special regime to receive and keep with them the publications of their choice, but affects the methods through which said publications can be acquired". Then citing "the constitutional protection of fundamental rights", in his appeal the lawyer Dascola argued that "it is not only the prisoner's freedom of expression of thought that is being compressed and damaged, understood in its passive meaning of the right to be informed and the right to study but also the right to enjoy reading a volume of one's choice, corresponding to one's tastes and interests, and therefore the right to one's own cultural enrichment". Hence the Supreme Court's decision to accept the request of the boss Giuseppe Graviano and send the matter back to a new Court in Reggio Calabria.