The ANPI calls for the resignation of the president of the UIT.
With a letter addressed to the President of Coni Giovanni Petrucci, the Anpi (National Association of Partisans of Italy) asks for the resignation of Ernfried Obrist (president of Uits) for having had an "attitude of evident consonance" with some individuals who wore uniforms of the Waffen SS, during a shooting competition at the Bologna shooting range. Below we publish the letter in its full form:
Mister President,
we are here to bring to your attention a story that we consider disconcerting as well as serious in terms of respect for the principles and norms that permeate our Constitution.
On April 25, the anniversary of the Liberation, Ernfried Obrist, National President of UITS (Italian Shooting Union) - a public body under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense and recognized by CONI - had himself photographed in the shooting halls. sign of S. Arcangelo di Romagna (Rimini), in an attitude of evident consonance with individuals who wore the uniforms of the Waffen-SS (also carrying weapons), the notorious German military squads, among others, the massacres of Marzabotto and S. Anna of Stazzema. In this context, it is inevitable to go back to December 28, 1943 where the seven Cervi brothers were shot by the Germans in a shooting range in Reggio Emilia, or to 1944 where at the Martinetto di Torino, in the courtyard called of the shooting, 61 executions took place against workers, students, priests, soldiers and peasants.
It is, as you well understand, a gravely offensive gesture to the memory of the thousands of innocent victims of Nazi war crimes, as well as a blatant offense of apology for Nazism.
The story jumped into the local and national news, thanks also to the position taken by the ANPI of S. Arcangelo, supported by the ANPI Provincial Committee of Rimini, the denunciation of the mayor of S. Arcangelo and a parliamentary question signed by the Hon. . Manuela Ghizzoni who has not yet received an answer. To further aggravate the situation is the behavior of President Obrist himself who hides behind "light" self-absolving attitudes that are frankly unacceptable. Among other things, the same declares to have expressed his apologies to the ANPI, waited in vain, an act that confirms the outrageous intentionality.
Fearing that the affair could end in general silence and awaiting a desired intervention by the judicial authority for the consequent sentence - in compliance with the constitutional rules and the laws of the Republic - a provision that would constitute a strong signal at national level against the neo-fascist regurgitation and neo-Nazis who are reappearing in a widespread and worrying way in our country, we are here to ask you for a specific initiative aimed at correctly obtaining the resignation of the President of the National UITS.
Certain of your attention, in informing you that we have sent a copy of this letter to the President of the Republic, the Presidents of the Chamber and Senate and the Chief Prosecutor of Rimini, we send you our best regards.
Armando Cossutta
VICAR VICE PRESIDENT