Rome Prosecutor General Seeks Delmastro Acquittal in Cospito Leak Appeal

Overview

• Rome’s Prosecutor General asked the Court of Appeal to acquit former justice undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, arguing the leak did not meet the legal test for a crime.
• The case centers on his disclosure of a prison police memo about anarchist Alfredo Cospito, who is held under the 41-bis regime that sharply restricts contacts to cut off criminal links.
• Trial judges convicted Delmastro in February 2025 and sentenced him to eight months, saying he knew the material was sensitive and that sharing it posed a concrete risk to crime-fighting.
• The Prosecutor General’s argument stresses there was no clear sign the documents were secret and says their circulation was limited with no notice of confidentiality.
• Investigators say Delmastro relayed the memo’s contents to party colleague Giovanni Donzelli, who then used them in a January 31 parliamentary speech to attack four Democratic Party lawmakers, a dispute later complicated by a report’s date error that mixed up January 11 and 12.