Craxi talks about street trials and political justice. The unpublished interview
What emerged from the long unpublished interview with Carlotta Tagliarini broadcast via streaming by the Craxi Foundation
It was October 25, 1996. At the house in Hammamet, on the hill in Tunisia known as snakes and jackals, without a view of the sea, it was not possible to reach the freeway as today. But through a thicket that opened towards the end in a dirt path. “Passeport s'il vous plait”, from the Tunisian police station. It was the checkpoint Craxi, the former socialist premier, with the status of political refugee of the Tunisian state, "I am more protected here – he says – than when I was prime minister in Italy". It is the first image of the video with the long unpublished interview by Carlotta Tagliarini.
It was broadcast live by the Craxi Foundation, yesterday at 6 pm, almost coinciding with the time when the socialist statesman died in exile, at the age of 65, on January 19, 2000.
“Complete and unedited interview. A passionate story in which Craxi traces the human and political events that led him to his exile in Tunisia, with personal and touching passages on the years spent in Hammamet ”, is written in a note from the Foundation.
The dialogue ends with the strongest image. It is unusual. Almost a punch in the stomach for those who have known his strong temper to the end. Craxi crying, or rather barely holds back the tears. But he does not do it for his judicial ordeal, which he retraces in the interview and led him to Hammamet, in what had been only the holiday home, in 1996 already achieved by five international arrest warrants, as "one of the most great criminals of history, one of which was even issued because it was judged not to be found, yet she (says to Tagliarini, ed ) had no difficulty in finding me ".
Craxi cries after reading Sergio Moroni's last words against "the street trial, the guarantee notice that becomes a condemnation, a media show". The socialist statesman recalls "the 20 suicides, including that of Gabriele Cagliari", the times when "pronouncing the name Craxi was a pass", "those who died of cancer from stress or heart attack". Then, on Moroni, with a faint voice that chokes in tears: "He was a young socialist deputy …". He puts the book with the phrases of "Sergio" on the patio table, takes a sip of water, slams the sheets and lights a cigarette to allay anger and pain. And concludes with a bitter "okay".
The journalist: “Why don't you go back to Italy?”, She had asked him in some passages. Craxi: "No, I surrender myself to political justice". He reiterates with fierce firmness that there is no evidence for the corruption charge, "no one has given me money, nor have I ever asked for it". Another thing, reiterating the famous speech in the House of '92, is the "illegal financing of parties". And he calls for a "just justice, worthy of a great country like Italy". But the passages on thoughts and modalities of his life in Hammamet are the most unpublished ones. “I miss organized work, but I work hard. I've always worked. I suffer from insomnia, I work, I write at night ". “I fall asleep late and so I live half days and half nights. But I sleep without nightmares. I don't remember the dreams. I'm sorry not to see the mornings ”.
Then, God, death. "I a believer? I am catholic. But I can't judge such a big thing. My burial? (smiles, ed ) Just ask me on your deathbed ". It was 1996, he still had a "hope but very fragile" to be able to return to Italy "as a free man". "I defend myself from political justice, because freedom equals my life". As he later ordered it to be written on the white marble headstone in the Christian cemetery of Hammamet, which overlooks the Muslim one. On the grave the Italian and Tunisian flag, with that of his PSI, which "with me rendered service to the country". Remember that Tunisia was "Christian land before the Arabs conquered it".
On Facebook, a message from daughter Stefania, a Forza Italia senator , reminds us that "the truth" is gaining momentum. And he concludes: "Hello, Dad", capital p.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/craxi-parla-di-processi-di-piazza-e-giustizia-politica-lintervista-inedita/ on Thu, 20 Jan 2022 16:13:13 +0000.