Former graft-busting prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro is under investigation for offending the honour of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano after he accused him of failing to fulfil his constitutional duties as impartial arbiter of Italian politics.
The Rome public prosecutor's office on Tuesday officially placed the leader of the small centre-left Italy of Values (IDV) party under investigation following a complaint from the Criminal Lawyers' Union that he offended the president's honour and prestige at a rally in Rome last week.
Di Pietro responded by saying the union had ''defamed'' him with ''the false assumption that I offended the head of state''.
''I have 200,000 people as witnesses who, via live streaming, watched my speech,'' he said.
Addressing the rally in the historic Piazza Navona, Di Pietro sided with supporters holding up a banner which read: ''Napolitano is asleep while Italy mounts the barricades''.
In a reference to Napolitano's unwillingness to react to calls for electoral reforms before the spring European Parliament elections, Di Pietro said the president was ''at times, less of an arbiter and more like a third party''.
Continuing his tirade - without however referring directly to Napolitano - Di Pietro added: ''Silence kills, silence is mafioso-like behaviour, that's why I intend to speak my mind''.
His comments prompted a rare show of unity in the Chamber of Deputies, with MPs in the governing majority and the centre-left opposition promptly rushing to the president's defence.
Napolitano's office rarely issues statements even when the president is unwillingly dragged into political bickering.
But shortly after Di Pietro's attack, the Quirinale Palace's press office blasted the IDV leader for his ''offensive comments'' on Napolitano's ''presumed 'silences'''.
The president's stances on political issues ''are scrupulously in keeping with his Constitutional role'', the statement said.
