Mausoleum for Rodolfo Graziani in Affile
ESAT News (November 10, 2017)
An Italian court sentenced a Mayor of a city and his aides to prison terms ranging from 6 to 8 months for refusing to remove a mausoleum for Rodolfo Graziani, a fascist Italian military officer responsible for the massacre of upto a million Ethiopians and destruction of thousands of churches and homes.
Mayor of the city of Affile Ercole Viri, was sentenced to 8 months in prison plus a penalty of 120 Euro. His Councilors, Peoperoni and Frosoni, were each sentenced to 6 months and a penalty of 80 Euros. They were also barred from public service for 5 years. It was learnt that the defendants have a right to appeal to the court’s decision.
The mausoleum for Rodolfo Graziani has been the cause of displeasure to the Italian National Partisan Association and the Ethiopian community who have been campaigning for its removal. They took the city to court which backed a Provincial Council decision that budgetary allocation for the mausoleum be terminated and the mausoleum be removed promptly.
The city of Affile that failed to heed to the Lazio Provincial Council decision to remove the mausoleum was taken to court, which passed prison sentences to the mayor and his associates.
The campaigners for the removal of the mausoleum also denounced Vatican’s blessing to the fascist’s memorial by sending a representative of the church at the 2012 inauguration of the mausoleum.
Led by Rodolfo Graziani, Italy had perpetrated war crimes between 1935-1941 in Ethiopia in which upto a million Ethiopian were killed and 14 millions of livestock perished. The fascist invading forces also destroyed thousands of churches and homes and looted properties and items of historic and cultural values.