"The process for a presidential pardon is a long one that must begin with a serious and genuine repentance on Roggero's part." So says former magistrate and Lega MP Simonetta Matone, who admits she had several doubts before signing the majority's appeal in favor of a pardon for Mario Roggero, the 72-year-old jeweler definitively sentenced to 14 years and 9 months for killing two robbers, Giuseppe Mazzarino and Andrea Spinelli, in Grinzane Cavour.
"I signed a document with the governing majority calling for the granting of a pardon for the jeweler who killed two criminals who had robbed him and endangered his family," Matone writes. "I thought long and hard before signing, because I am certain that the President of the Republic, in his wisdom and his qualities as a legal expert, already has a clear view of the matter."
Furthermore, the former magistrate adds, "I am aware that the presidential pardon process (which also has several gradations) is a lengthy one that must begin with a serious and genuine path of repentance, which I urge Roggero to undertake immediately. If as a woman of the law I remain perplexed, from a human perspective I understand how the jeweler, who has been definitively convicted, is a symbol for the thousands of people who have suffered the same fate as him and who need to be supported and protected."
