Controversy in Treviso after the death of a 53-year-old, Marco Magrin, a man in financial difficulty who lived on the margins of society, in a garage, after being forced to leave the rented apartment he occupied, owned by a no-global exponent.
The first broadsides against the owner of the property, Andrea Berta, who with the Diango social center fights against evictions and for the right to housing , had already come from Fratelli d'Italia, which, with the Venetian senator Raffaele Speranzon, had blacklisted the young activist: "Poor Marco Magrin - Speranzon wrote - was killed by left-wing indifference. If the far-left militant was aware of Magrin's state of indifference, why did he prefer to change the lock instead of reporting it to social services when he went to the Town Hall to protest against evictions?"
The Municipality of Treviso has entrusted the local police with further investigations into the case, while the Northern League mayor Mario Conte has said he is convinced that there are "several aspects to clarify" and that he sees sufficient conditions "to file a complaint" . One of the questions that the administration is asking, in particular, is why, knowing about Magrin's state of indigence, the owner had not reported him to social services.
Andrea Berta's version is completely different. "There was no eviction" of the tenant, he says. The man had inherited the property from an aunt, and intended to put it up for sale. Knowing Magrin's difficult conditions, he had left the apartment on free loan. The house had previously also hosted Magrin's wife, a woman followed by social services, and other occasional individuals. Last April, Berta had sent a letter with her lawyer in which she asked for "the keys to be returned". Magrin, however, would continue to live there for free at least until the end of summer 2024.
Later, Berta's reconstruction, he had assured him that he had a new job and that he could find another housing solution. Perhaps a small lie dictated by pride, given that he had found the "solution" in the garage below the apartment, where he later died. Between the owner and the tenant - it is always Berta's story - there had been no more contact. So, finding the house vacated, the man had decided to change the lock of the apartment.
"For my part," the man said, "there was no eviction. After having ascertained that there was no one left in that apartment, I started looking for a pest control company and changed the lock to prevent others who might have gotten hold of the keys from entering."
(Online Union)
