Carlo Taormina

Carlo Taormina

Carlo Taormina (born 16 December 1940) is an Italian lawyer, politician, jurist, and academic. Taormina was the defense lawyer of some of the most controversial trials in modern Italian history, from that of the Ustica affair to the trial of the Nazi Erich Priebke, and to the Abu Omar case and the Cogne homicide case. He entered politics in 1996, joining Forza Italia, the political party of Silvio Berlusconi. That same year, he ran for the Chamber of Deputies but was not elected.

Quotes

• [About the Telekom Serbia case] I confess: I am the puppet master behind this whole affair. I am turning myself in for complicity in slander with Paoletti, Marini, and Pintus. [I] have created difficulties for Forza Italia and Berlusconi. [It is therefore right] that I withdraw from political life. I have made a grave mistake, and this is an open confession; it is right that I make a public apology; I acknowledge that Repubblica is staffed by first-rate journalists. I am making a serious announcement: I will resign as a member of parliament in the coming days. Through the various schemes outlined by Repubblica and my ties to figures such as D’Andria, Fracassi, Di Bari, and even Francesco Pazienza—all linked in the public imagination to rogue intelligence agencies and international fraud and money laundering—I succeeded in making the Telekom Serbia Commission the target of a poisoned chalice. I take full responsibility for the individuals who, by implicating Prodi, Dini, and Fassino, have seriously slandered them; and I accuse myself of complicity in slander, though I hope Repubblica does the same, because while I accuse myself, I would like to know from D’Avanzo and Bonini who their puppet masters were at the time and whom they now serve. Repubblica is right, I cannot sue!

• Taormina: "È colpa mia, mi ritiro dalla politica", Repubblica.it, 26 September 2003.

• (About the deaths of Ilaria Alpi and Miran Hrovatin) They were on vacation in Somalia; they were not conducting any investigation: the Commission has established this (January 2004).

• Quoted in Federico Marconi, Ilaria Alpi, cronaca di 23 anni senza verità, Espresso.it, 7 July 2017.

• (About the case of Eluana Englaro) A genuine murder has taken place. [Even] Parliament itself has been taken for a ride. My complaint would have been for attempted murder; now it will be different—namely, premeditated murder. And it will be filed against the girl’s father Beppino Englaro, against the doctors who treated her, and also against the Public Prosecutor of Udine for abuse of office or for whatever crimes may be identified. As for the prosecutor in Udine, who has been completely inactive, I will request the intervention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan, which has jurisdiction over crimes committed by the judges in Udine. This barbaric murder, this attack on life, must be punished and brought to justice.

• Quoted in Eluana: Taormina li denuncio per omicidio premeditato, Repubblica.it, 9 February 2009.

• I worked for years for Berlusconi; I know his strategies. When I was his legal advisor and he asked me to draft laws that would protect him from the magistrates, he certainly made no secret of their ad personam purpose. And I drafted them even better than Ghedini and Pecorella do now. The one on legitimate suspicion—I think it was 2002—he needed to move his trials from Milan to Rome. He asked us for it openly, and we, faithful executors of the prince’s will, set about writing it. And we did a pretty good job, I must say: everything seemed in order. Then one evening in late October, around 11 p.m., a call came from Ciampi. I told Berlusconi that with that amendment, it wouldn’t serve any purpose anymore. He thought about it for a moment and then replied: “Let’s do it this way for now, and we’ll see.” I was right: in fact, the law passed with those amendments and was of no use to him.

• Quoted in La verità su B. raccontata dal suo ex avvocato, Gilioli Blog, Espresso.it, 29 January 2010.

• There are many things I did during that period that I would never do again. I have no qualms about saying that I went through a moral crisis, which culminated when I saw how the Cavaliere's inner circle was taking shape.

• Quoted in La verità su B. raccontata dal suo ex avvocato, Gilioli Blog, Espresso.it, 29 January 2010.

• (Regarding the secret dossier on Ilaria Alpi) I have absolutely no recollection of having given that document to the then-Chief of Police, and I certainly did not grant any investigative authority to Gianni De Gennaro.

• Quoted in in Andrea Palladino, Caso Ilaria Alpi e quel dossier segreto consegnato a Gianni De Gennaro, Espresso.it, 9 April 2015.