In an official statement published by S.S. Lazio on May 25, 2020, the club announced that President Claudio Lotito is set to take legal action against Sports Journalist Sebastiano Vernazza of Milan based newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
This was the result of the article published by Vernazza on May 25, 2020, titled ‘L’allusione su Juve-Inter è solo l’ultima di Lotito, il presidente controverso della Lazio’ – which translates to ‘The Allusion of Juventus-Inter is only the latest of Claudio Lotito, the controversial President of Lazio’ in English – aimed at defaming and discrediting Lotito.
Freedom of information does not allow for the violation of a person’s right to his or her reputation. Therefore, since Vernazza used this article to ridicule Lotito, he must face consequences; Lotito has given a mandate to his lawyers to react in all courts (civil and criminal) to obtain the protection that the Constitution ensures to every person.
This article is based upon Claudio Lotito’s words in an interview with La Repubblica back on April 26, 2020, where he said:
“Today, I am just one point off of Juventus, and it’s only because of Juventus-Inter, which, come on, everyone saw…”.
To Lazio Family, Lazio Lawyer Gian Michele Gentile discussed the matter at hand.
“We are deciding how to act. The article was published yesterday morning, give us some time. The content of the article is aimed directly at Claudio Lotito, we are evaluating if and how to act.”
“A lawsuit in a Criminal Court is often complicated and does not bring results, it’s easier to go to a Civil Court. However, we still have to determine which route to take.”
“If we were to go to a Civil Court for damages, we would do it at the expense of the Editor of the article, the responsible Director and the Publisher.”
“As mentioned, we have the feeling that it is a targeted article, but it’s still early – let us evaluate it properly.”
