Mediterranean hegemon

"Calais, what are you doing?" Old Ciano picked up the phone after seeing the newspaper and scolded Contini. "Are you as engaged in political struggle? This is the level of street abuse. !”

"Father, how do you think we should fight?"

"We must analyze the other party's program and policies, find out the problems, and then..."

"Father, can I win like this?" Contini interrupted the old Ciano in time and said, "In terms of age, Matteotti is about the same age as you; in terms of qualifications, I was just born when he became a parliamentarian. In terms of status, he is the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party. Although I have the title of Chairman of the Youth League, it is not of the same order of magnitude. In terms of experience, he has repeatedly dealt with others in the political arena, but I am a person who has not even gone to college. Graduating young people...if a pen war really goes according to your ideas, who do you think will win if you stand as an impartial third party?”

"This..." Old Ciano was stunned for a moment, and finally sighed helplessly, "It's true that there is little chance of winning. You shouldn't take this job. Even if you do, you must at least discuss it with me before..."

"But now I may not lose if I fight like this." Contini said in a confident tone, "Have you read the Socialist Party's newspapers? They are basically insults to me. They are very unpleasant to hear and unsightly. It seems that Mr Matteo was furious."

"How can you engage in political struggle like this? How many people do you know who are watching the joke?"

"It's a joke... It's a good joke... I'm worried that no one will see the joke!"

After more than half an hour of Contini's explanation, the old Ciano finally figured out the thinking of this precious son: This boy who is afraid of chaos in the world just wants to use his loud voice to amplify the debate situation and set off a dispute between him and Matteotti. war of words.

"Father, Matteotti can't scold me, because I don't have any of the shortcomings he has... In other words, I am too young, and I haven't had time to have the shortcomings that adults should have."

"But Matteotti doesn't have any bad habits..."

"It's not whether you have bad habits or not. If I say yes, he will have them! Father, ask yourself, you have served in the army for many years and later followed the leader. In the past 30 years of your adult life, you have not made any mistakes or caused any stains. ?”

"I..." Old Ciano was confused by his son's question. No one can make mistakes without being a sage. How could he not make mistakes? Could his son have mastered some deeds?

Hearing his father's silence on the other end of the phone, Contini knew that he must have gone astray, and quickly reminded: "Since Matteotti is the secretary-general of the Socialist Party and a member of parliament, he has to deal with all aspects, a saint, a It is impossible for a moral model to be qualified for such a position. It is difficult for someone like the teacher to hold down the position of minister, let alone him? Do you think there are really pure and flawless politicians in this world, even the Pope's red coat? No bishop dares to brag like this in front of God, let alone a mere Matteotti.”

"Since accepting the leadership mission, your son has not been idle. I have spent a lot of manpower and material resources to go through all of Matteotti's history. He does not have much dark history, but there are a few things that cannot be escaped no matter what. , and your son is a well-educated, deeply influenced by the aristocratic tradition, a representative of the younger generation of Italy. So far, he has no black history at all. From the standpoint of political competition, I am not an opponent, but when it comes to occupying Standing on the moral high ground, how can your son be afraid of an old politician?"

Old Ciano was speechless. His son did not have a dark history, but he believed that these dark histories were still very short and could not be exposed at all. In fact, Matteotti didn't want to retaliate, but he went to Laoxian and found that there was no way to deal with Contini on political issues-this guy neither belonged to a party nor was a member of the parliament, even if he showed a tendency to fascism Di's position is useless, there is no way to make a fuss about this place. So we can only resort to tit-for-tat scolding.

Old Ciano frowned and asked: "What are you going to do next?"

“We’ll fight for a few more days, and then we can file a lawsuit.”

"Litigation?" Old Ciano was stunned. "You want to use the law to solve political problems? This is really strange. I have never heard of anyone doing this."

"No! Solve the problem between me and Matteotti..." Contini smiled slightly, "I'm not going for the Socialist Party. That's the conclusion that the leader should worry about. I'm going for Matteotti. , as long as I destroy his prestige, I will win. I have just formed a team of lawyers and hired four of the most famous lawyers in Italy. They are carefully looking for loopholes based on the unscrupulous remarks made by Matteotti in his counterattack. You have to know that the Italian judicial system is a very interesting existence. A good lawyer can turn black into white and good into bad... Besides, all the power of the judiciary and administrative powers is the power of fascism. You What position do you think they should take?”

"You can take care of yourself. It's not cheap to hire a lawyer..."

"It's okay." Contini said proudly, "Germany's money has arrived, and your son still has more than 2 million US dollars at his disposal!"

Old Ciano was speechless, money means being willful!

On January 21, this "war" between the political veteran and the political rookie, which was almost like a shrew scolding the street, finally evolved in different directions. Contini filed a lawsuit with the First District Court of Rome on the grounds of "personal insult, defamation, infringement of reputation, and rumor-mongering", demanding Matteotti to publicly apologize in the Socialist Party newspaper and compensate 10 million liras for mental damage. The court immediately announced that it would accept the case and quickly issued a summons to prepare for the first hearing on January 30.

Since Contini filed a civil lawsuit, Matteotti's criminal immunity as a member of parliament could not be effective, but he was not afraid of the stage. He thought that this was a petty thief scolding but ready to jump off the wall. What was there to fear even if he took legal action? He obviously did not pay enough attention to the response to the lawsuit. He only invited two friends who were lawyers in Rome. Although they had some experience, they were not first-class in the Italian lawyer circle.

"Silence, the court is now open for the defamation case between Mr. Galeazzo Ciano and Mr. Giacomo Matteotti...Do both parties need to apply for recusation?"

Contini shook his head: "No."

Matteotti also shook his head.

With a "bang", the judge banged the gavel and officially announced the start of the trial. Since this case involves people with great backgrounds, the First District Court of Rome not only selected the three most experienced judges, but also specially placed them in the largest courtroom. The audience seats that can accommodate more than 300 people were full. Except for a few supporters of both parties, most of the audience were media reporters and citizens who wanted to watch the excitement.

"Please ask the prosecutor to read the indictment and speak first."

Sergio, the top ace lawyer in Italy, stood up calmly and spoke first. Seeing that the lawyers on Contini's side were all the most famous figures in the Italian legal community, Matteotti frowned a little, as if he felt a little tricky.

"... On January 16, Mr. Matteotti published an article in the newspaper "Socialist" insulting my client as "Mussolini's son of a bitch", which seriously violated the client's right to reputation and also damaged the reputation of others."

"What does the defense lawyer have to say?"

"I oppose the plaintiff's quoting out of context."

"Plaintiff, please explain your reasons."

"Your Honor, although this sentence is short, it involves a very complicated relationship. First, he insulted Mr. Benito Mussolini as a dog; second, he insulted my client as a son of a bitch; third, he implied that Mr. Mussolini had an improper relationship with the plaintiff's mother... To prove my point, please allow the court to call the following three groups of witnesses: The first group is Professor Valero of the Italian Higher Medical School. and Professor Richey, please ask them to prove that Mr. Mussolini is not a dog, and that my client is not a puppy, and both of them meet the common characteristics of humans; the second group of witnesses is Mr. Benito Mussolini, please ask him to prove that he has no relationship with the client's mother; the third group of witnesses is Mr. Costanzo Ciano and his wife, the client's parents, please prove that there is no improper relationship between them and Mr. Mussolini..."

"Asshole, that's just a metaphor, no..."

"Objection, the defense lawyer spoke rudely in court and insulted the prosecution lawyer."

The judge nodded: "Defendant lawyer, please control your temper, do you think it is necessary to summon the above-mentioned witnesses?"

"I..." Matteotti was also speechless, what the hell is this proving? Is there any need to prove this?

The audience was in an uproar at first, and then everyone laughed, this is so interesting, several members of the Youth League of the Law Department nodded again and again: It turns out that the law can be played like this, it's really a broad view...