SPERLONGA - An Italian blogger has been ordered to pay 20,000 euros or risk facing a defamation lawsuit by the lawyer of a local architect following the publication of information that linked a construction site to criminal gangs.

 Bernardo Bassoli, founder of the Latina Tu blog, now finds himself the victim of blackmail after he published a police report which seemed to suggest that a planning permission issued in Sperlonga seemed to provide land allowances to divisions of a local organised crime gang.

 Sperlonga’s Mayor Armando Cusani has also accused been accused of alleged abuse of office for his role in the misappropriation of land.  

 The lawyer demanded that the relevant items be removed from Latina Tu and social media channels with immediate effect, and that Bassoli “refrain from abusing one’s right to freedom of press” by reporting falsehoods.

 Bassoli has received the full support of the Foreign Press Association of Rome.