Maria Clementina Forleo (born 1963, in

Francavilla Fontana Francavilla Fontana ( Francavillese: ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Brindisi and region of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is also called the town of the "Imperiali", after the Imperiali, a family of feudal lords who ...

province of Brindisi The province of Brindisi () is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Brindisi. It has an area of and a total population of 401,652 (2013). Geography The Province of Brindisi is situated in southeastern Italy, exte ...

) is an Italian preliminary

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

(''Giudice per le indagini preliminari'', or ''GIP'' for short) at the Court of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. She came to national prominence after discovering the existence of audio tapes of telephone calls between high level Italian politicians and Stefano Ricucci and Gianpiero Fiorani. These businessmen had mysteriously become extremely rich in about only 10 years buying and selling very expensive and extravagant luxury real estate properties, with earnings around 100% to 300% over a reasonable market price. Italian journalists have speculated that this could reflect a new way of bribing politicians.

Education

Forleo got her diploma as one of the top 25

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

students in Italy. After getting her degree in law ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, she took a series of competitive exams in order to join the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

or the judiciary.''La donna che fa sognare noialtri sudditi''
Giuseppe Guastella. July 21, 2007 In 1989, having won one of the two competitive exams (certamen), Clementina Forleo became a commissioner in the

Polizia di Stato The (State Police or P.S.) is one of the national Law enforcement in Italy, police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agen ...

. After only one month, having won the other certamen, she resigned from the Italian police in order to begin her career as a judge. During her short time in the police, she received a "solemn praise" (''encomio solenne'') for her work during the crisis resulting from large-scale illegal immigration from

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and Africa into the

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

coastal region of Italy.

Judicial career

Clementina Forleo became famous as a judge when she found two

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

ian nationals, Maher Boujahia and Ali Toumi, and a Moroccan, Mohamed Daki, innocent of the charge of

international terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war ag ...

. Several Italian and international media organizations criticized her decision, which was motivated by the distinction between the actions committed by freedom fighters and terrorists (the first executing attacks against military targets, the second attacking helpless civilians).''Assolti i tre islamici sospettati di terrorismo''

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

. November 29, 2005 This concept was welcomed and further amplified by the judges of the Appeal Court (Corte d'Assise d'Appello). Later, her judgment was reversed by the Italian

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

( Cassazione) and then by the second Corte d'Assise d'Appello, on October 23 of 2007, noting the terrorist, rather than military nature of the criminal plans that were attributed to the suspects. Mohamed Daki was condemned to 4 years of prison on the charge of international terrorism, and the two Tunisian nationals were sentenced to 6 years.''Sconfessata la Forleo, Daki condannato''

. October 23, 2007''Terrorismo, condannato Daki''

la Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

. October 24, 2007

Defense of African immigrants

Another controversy arose when Clementina Forleo interrupted a violent arrest, involving an officer who was later expelled from the police force. On July 8, 2005, she protested against the violent arrest of an African outside a subway station, after he was found without a valid ticket during a routine check on the train. Forleo arrived at the scene of the arrest, identified herself as a magistrate, and made a complaint about excessive violence on the part of the group of policemen, who then decided to sue her.''Clementina Forleo, giudice dell'Antonveneta, potrebbe finire sotto processo a Brescia''
Affari Italiani. February 2007

Inquiries about the purchase of the Antonveneta bank involving the PdS party

One of the most important inquiries done by Clementina Forleo involved the purchase of Banca Antonveneta in the so-called Bancopoli scandal. This brought her harsh criticism by many members (

Clemente Mastella Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He also served as leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR), a minor centrist and Christian-democratic I ...

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...

) of the center-left coalition headed by Premier

Romano Prodi Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...

Death of her parents in a mysterious car crash

She received an anonymous letter threatening her parents with death by car crash. This became reality on August 28, 2005, when her mother and her father lost their lives in a

car crash A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

on the road connecting Francavilla Fontana and

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

, in the

. Her father was Gaspare Forleo, 77, an attorney and former mayor of Francavilla Fontana, and her mother was Stella Bungaro, 75, a high school math teacher.''Schianto a Brindisi, muoiono i genitori del gip Clementina Forleo''
, Quotidiano.net. August 29, 2005

Notes

External links

''Intervista barbarica: Clementina Forleo''
- Daria Bignardi, Invasioni Barbariche. December 28, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Forleo, Clementina 1963 births Living people People from Francavilla Fontana 20th-century Italian judges 21st-century Italian judges