ROME – Selene Ticchi D’Urso has been acquitted by Judge Marco de Leva for wearing a t-shirt featuring the word “Auschwitzland” and the Disney logo at a rally in Mussolini’s hometown of Predappio in October 2018, judicial officials said. 

 Ticchi D’Urso was suspended from the far-right Forza Nuova due to her clothing choice which the party described as “black humour.” 

 “Wearing a t-shirt with the “Auschwitzland” logo and the drawing of the entrance door of the famous Nazi concentration camp in not sufficient proof to establish membership of an organisation that incites discrimination,” explained Judge de Leva. 

 Ticchi D’Urso was acquitted of the charge of violating the Mancino law, which prohibits the public display of symbols linked to racism, but the public prosecutor’s office nevertheless announced an appeal to the Court of Cassation, arguing instead that the symbol on the t-shirt is the symbol used by groups founded on the apology of the Shoah. 

 According to the grounds of the judgement which overturned the conviction, the preliminary investigation against the woman is “seriously deficient.” 

 “Nothing had been reported by witnesses, not even by those of judicial police,” de Leva comments. 

 “There is no evidence that the design on the t-shirt can be linked to any organisation currently in existence that advocates ideologies based on racial hatred,” concluded de Leva.

cw