The city councilor of Reggio Calabria Massimo Ripepi was convicted of aggravated defamation and damage to his image against a doctor who attended the religious community of the Christian Church “Pace” of which he is pastor.
This was decided by the single judge Francesco Me of Reggio Calabria before whom the trial was held where theThe victim, Dr. Maria Romeo, joined the civil action through her lawyer Giuseppe Arcuri. Ripepi, who in recent weeks announced his candidacy for the European elections with the movement of the mayor of Terni Stefano Bandecchi, was sentenced to a fine of 600 euros and compensation for damages suffered by the offended party which will be quantified by the civil court. The trial arose following Ripepi's opposition to a criminal decree that he had received from investigating judge Davide Lauro in 2017.
In the indictment it is written that the municipal councilor “by communicating with several people, offended the reputation of Maria Romeo. In particular, in his capacity as pastor of the Christian Church of Catona, during the homilies pronounced during the liturgical rites and also disclosed through publication on the website www.pacetvrc.it and on the social network YouTube, as well as in email letters, he defined the woman as “chief of Satan”, “tool in the hands of the devil”, “killer of souls”, “jazebel”, ” false and very dangerous woman” and “woman sent by the devil to murder souls”.
«Finally, after many years, this sentence once again crystallizes the seriousness of Ripepi's actions which I had already reported in 2016 to the police commissioner of Reggio Calabria asking for a warning for stalking» was the comment of Dr. Romeo. «In that phase – she added – justice had agreed with me by admonishing Ripepi and inviting him to seek treatment at the mental health centre. Today I thank my lawyer Giuseppe Arcuri who stood by me at every stage ensuring that my voice was fully heard in the right ways and with the right methods in the right places.”