My first memory of Italian “justice” goes back a number of
years when I read a little writeup in an American paper about a rape trial in
Southern Italy. Everything pointed to the man’s guilt, but he was exonerated of
all wrongdoing by the all-male court, who cited that the young woman’s pants
were too tight, therefore he could not have removed them by himself, therefore
it was not rape. Reading about this enraged my sensibilities, not only as a
woman, but also as an American. Sadly, it is not hard to find injustice here,
but at least the system usually fails because of human error or perhaps a legal
loophole that actually requires intelligence and effort to find, rather than
making up rulings at will. However, reading about that case prepared me for my
shock from the ever growing laundry list that is Silvio Berlusconi’s resumé of
legal allegations and the complete lack of justice for the man who gained much
of his wealth and power due to Milan’s successes on the pitch. And yet, as ill
as that always makes me to think about, he is hardly calcio’s greatest shame.
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| While the players were basking in victory, their world was crashing down around them |
