Zali case: committees call for further hearings

After the summer break, parliamentary work resumes on the case involving Claudio Zali, the outgoing state councillor. Two subcommittees of the Cantonal Parliament are investigating his possible interference in the detention conditions of a minor.

These are the Justice and Rights Subcommittee, coordinated by Cristina Maderni (PLR), and the Oversight Subcommittee, led by Fiorenzo Dadò (Centre). Both are trying to understand the institutional impact of a meeting requested by Zali. The meeting discussed the 14-year-old son of an acquaintance of the Lega minister. According to what has emerged, Zali reportedly offered at one point to take the boy home with him.

Several senior state officials attended the meeting: the director of the Justice Division, Frida Andreotti, the head of Ticino's prisons, Stefano Laffranchini, the juvenile magistrate Fabiola Gnesa, and the director of the EOC's prison medical service, Teresa Salamone. All of them have already been questioned by the two committees, as has Zali himself.

Committees join forces

The committees' work is not finished, however. Fiorenzo Dadò explains that the hearings have revealed inconsistencies that need further examination. On some points, he adds, it will also be necessary to hear from people who have not yet been questioned.

It is precisely these inconsistencies that led the two subcommittees to join forces. By pooling the material and statements gathered so far, they concluded that working together was the better option.

Cristina Maderni confirms that the analysis of the hearings has revealed discrepancies on some points, and that further investigation will continue. Asked whether something actually happened at the meeting, she remains guarded: she says she cannot give further details, since the material is still being analysed.

Dadò is somewhat more forthcoming. He says that on some specific points, some of them important, the accounts collected do not match. In some cases, he says, those present perceived things differently; in others, the same people attached different importance to the same facts. For the parliamentarian, the meeting requested by Zali was "evidentemente problematica" (evidently problematic). It remains to be established exactly what problems arose and how serious they were.