Italian police on Friday cited 20
people including an Italian celebrity chef for making online
slurs against 92-year-old Holocaust survivor and life Senator
Liliana Segre, judicial sources said on International Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
The suspects including Chef Rubio have been charged by the Milan
Carabinieri for insults posted on the web against Senator Segre,
the sources said.
Gabriele Rubini, 39, known professionally as Chef Rubio, is a
former semi-professional Italian rugby player and television
presenter for DMAX, where he hosts a cooking programme.
The charge, for all of them, is defamation by 'telematic' means
with the aggravating circumstance of religious, ethnic or racial
motivations.
Last month Segre reported 24 people including Rubini for making
the latest in a string of anti-Semitic attacks on her on social
media.
Segre, said Chef Rubio had slammed her for not defending the
Palestinians in her recent remarks on Israel, which he called a
"fascist" state.
Rubio accused Segre of "a deafening silence over the plight
of Palestine".
Israel Honorary Consul Marco Carrai said it was "disappointing
that so many young people follow a figure who incites social
hate like this chef," and added that unlike Rubio's many
tattoos, the one on Segre's arm had been inscribed when she
reached Auschwitz as a girl.
Milan prosecutors opened a probe on the basis of
Segre's 24 complaints, into death threats and aggravated
defamation.
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