The Italian jeweler who shot the robbers will pay compensation to their families

Italian jeweler Mario Rogero, who shot two robbers, still has to pay compensation to their families.

After the final verdict, politicians talk about pardon, the right to self-defense and the need to change laws. However, compensation was awarded by the court to the relatives of the victims for the loss of a loved one, the author of the public "Immigration to Italy" emphasizes. Italian law considers this as an independent damage, which does not depend on who the deceased was during his lifetime. If the court recognizes a person as a victim of murder, his family has the right to demand compensation for moral damage. This position was confirmed by the Court of Appeal and then the Court of Cassation.

For this reason, the statements of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that "the criminal should not receive compensation" do not directly relate to the Rogero case, the report says. From a legal point of view, the recipients of payments are not the participants in the robbery, but their relatives.

To date, Rogero has already paid about 300 thousand euros as a preliminary compensation. However, the process is not yet complete. The final amount of payments must be determined by a civil court. The total amount of claims from the families of the victims reaches approximately 3.3 million euros.

If the money is not paid voluntarily, the law provides for a standard collection procedure. First, an official demand for payment is sent, and then, if necessary, the property may be seized and sold to repay the debt. Lawyers for the families have already stated that they are considering this option.

The new law of the Meloni government will not change the situation either, which frees a person from the obligation to compensate for damage to a criminal if his actions are recognized as necessary defense. This law is not retroactive and applies only to new cases. But there is another important detail: the court recognized that in Rogero's story it was not about the necessary defense and not even about its careless excess. The verdict was passed under the article on premeditated murder. That is why the new rules are not applicable to this case.

There is one more nuance. After the proposal to nominate Rogero to parliament, the lawyers recalled: a person convicted of a serious crime is deprived of the right to hold public office. As long as the sentence remains in force, it is impossible to talk about a political career.

"That is why the Rogero case continues to live in two realities at once. Politically, it has long become a symbol of the struggle for the expansion of the right to self-defense. In the legal sphere, everything looks much less emotional: the final verdict has already been passed, and the current legislation leaves very little room for maneuver for this case," the report says.

In 2021, after the armed robbery of Rogero's store in In Piedmont, he caught up with the criminals and opened fire on them. Two robbers were killed, the third was injured. The court concluded that at that time the limits of the necessary defense were exceeded, and sentenced Rogero to 14 years and 9 months in prison. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered the jeweler to pay compensation to the families of the victims.