Milan City Government Finds Perpetrator Of Destruction Of Famous Journalist Statue Indro Montanelli

Indro Montanelli statue (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The destruction of statues related to racism has spread in the past week, as the 'Black Lives Matter' (BLM) movement has spread. In Italy too. The statue that was damaged was none other than the statue of a famous Italian journalist Indro Montanelli in the City of Milan.

Launched the BBC, previously a petition to remove the statue had been rolled out. However, local authorities have not heeded the protesters' demands. Presumably that's why the statue was scribbled with words like "racist" and "rapist."

By Italians, the statue is considered worthy of bringing memories of the journalist's past sins. What's more, considering that during his lifetime Montanelli was often accused of being racist and labeled a rapist because he admitted to having bought and married an Eritrean girl aged 12, during his military service in the 1930s.

Uniquely, Montanelli also wrote about the marriage in a collection of essays entitled "La Stanza di Montanelli in 2000. After a year later, Montanelli then died in 2001.

Then, the Retestudentimilano activist group called Montanelli a colonizer who made slavery an important part of his political activities. Not only that, they also revealed that the statue was not suitable to be present in the public square, given the grave sins of the past.

As CNN reported, Prosecutor Alberto Nobili, who is based at the Milan Prosecutor's Office, revealed that the perpetrators of the vandalism were not certain. As a result, they began to open an investigation into the vandalism.

Those who are caught doing damage will be labeled the accusation of littering the public space. The description of the sentences that are ready to ensnare the perpetrator is a fine of 103-1,000 euros and a prison sentence of between three months and one year.

The Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala also reacted. The plan is that on Sunday the statue will be cleaned again. He also assessed that those who commit vandalism, of course, do not know about Montanelli's contribution in the journalism field.

"He is a great journalist who fights for press freedom. When we judge our own life, can we say that our life is immaculate? Life must be judged in its complexity," he concluded.