Roberto Benigni remits the lawsuit filed against Report after two episodes which, in April 2017, focused on the film studios of Papigno. “In the interest of Messrs Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni, on their own and as shareholders of Melampo Cinematografica Srl, I inform you that yesterday the Court of Rome, Criminal Section VII, defined with a sentence of extinction of the crime for remission of the lawsuit pending against Drs. Giorgio Mottola and Sigfrido Ranucci”, communicates the lawyer of the two plaintiffs, Michele Gentiloni Silveri, in a note.
“During the episodes of 10 and 17 April 2017 of the program ‘Report’, false news and seriously damaging the reputation of my clients had been disseminated, in relation to the story of the Papigno film studios. Following a lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor of Rome had brought Drs. Mottola and Ranucci to trial for the crime of aggravated defamation”, explains the lawyer.
“During the course of the investigation, the defendants issued a press release (attached here) in which they corrected the false information spread about Messrs Braschi and Benigni and regretted the effects of the offending service. Having acknowledged the press release, my clients have decided to postpone the lawsuit and thus extinguish the judgement”, concludes Silveri.
The press release, signed by Sigfrido Ranucci and Giorgio Mottola, reads: “With reference to the episodes of Report on 10 and 17 April 2017, we acknowledge that Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni used only personal funds to buy and renovate the Papigno studios The purchase and renovation of Papigno’s studios gave the opportunity to create masterpieces such as: ‘Life is beautiful’, ‘Pinocchio’ and ‘The tiger and the snow’. Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni managed to recover a large part of the huge investment made on the occasion of the purchase and restructuring of the Papigno studios”.
At the conclusion of the making of their latest film, “Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni sold, in 2005, Papigno’s studios to Cinecittà Studios, a joint-stock company leader in the sector, privately managed at the time – continues the release of the journalists of ‘Report’ – From the moment of the purchase by Cinecittà Studios, Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni no longer had any responsibility in the subsequent management of Cinecittà Studios”.
Ranucci and Mottola then underline: “We have never said that Benigni and Braschi have made use of public funding to restructure Papigno’s studios: we are sorry if any misunderstandings arose following the report and we are pleased that these further clarifications have allowed Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni to renounce the judicial initiatives undertaken against us”.
RANUCCI – Sigfrido Ranucci writes on Facebook that “the reports” by some news agencies “regarding an alleged correction of ‘Report’ on the 2017 episode ‘Che Spettacolo’ do not correspond to the truth. What was published is a joint statement in which the story was retraced and the good-natured composition was announced. There have never been false news published by ‘Report’. This for the sake of truth, it is sufficient to review the episode”.