Writer Roberto Saviano faces trial for cussing out Italian PM

Leading Italian writer Roberto Saviano faces legal action from the country's right wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for calling her "bastard".

Saviano, who is a noted essayist, journalist, and screenwriter, reacted to her comment that NGO boats that had tried to rescue refugees should be sunk, according to The Guardian.

Meloni, the leader of Brothers of Italy, came to power riding on the undercurrents of the nation's neo-fascist sentiments that target minorities.

Meloni sued the author for criminal defamation after he responded to her statement that Rome should "repatriate migrants and sink the boats that rescued them".

Also, last year a judge in Rome ruled that the writer should be tried, the report said.

If convicted, Saviano—who is facing threat from the country's Neapolitan mafia Camorra after the publication of his book "Gomorrah"—will faces up three years in prison.

Saviano lives under police escort and has been in hiding from the mafia, according to the repot.

In 2020 the author was asked on a political TV chatshow to comment on the death of a six-month-old baby from Guinea following a shipwreck in the Mediterranean.

Saviano included Prime Minister Meloni and the leader of the far-right Northern League Mateo Salvini in his remark saying that ""I just want to say to Meloni, and Salvini, you bastards! How could you?"

Many writers and literary associations including the PEN International have since come out to support Saviano

Its president Burhan Sönmez asked Meloni to drop all criminal defamation charges against Saviano.