New raid by the Carabinieri of the provincial command on the offices of the University of Sassari as part of the " Monte Nuovo " investigation. The military acquired further documents after the ROS operation which led to the arrest of 31 people, 13 in prison and 18 under house arrest.
According to the accusation, a mafia-style association is active in Sardinia with connections between Orgolese crime, attributable to Graziano Mesina, politics and institutions.
The carabinieri had already reached the University headquarters on 27 September. On that occasion they seized documentation relating to the election of the rector Gavino Mariotti and subsequent appointments at the University and the university hospital.
The investigations focus on some passages contained in the order with which the investigating judge of the Court of Cagliari, Michele Contini, last week ordered the arrest of the 31 people accused in various capacities of mafia-style criminal association, secret association, to crimes aimed at drug trafficking and other crimes such as embezzlement and corruption .
In the judge's provision we read that the mafia association had undertaken to guarantee the election of the rector of Sassari, finding the necessary votes to be appointed to lead the university, and that Mariotti's relationship with the gang «is materialized, on the one hand, in the support that the group ensured to favor his election, and on the other, in the maximum availability offered by the prof. Mariotti to satisfy the interests of the association."
The rector is not currently under investigation but a discussion on the facts has opened within the University.
A few days ago, an appeal arrived in the teachers' email inbox to be signed to claim the University's non-involvement in any mafia system, and in support of Mariotti. Today the UDU students respond to that appeal: «We believe we must distance ourselves from such criminal and dangerous phenomena for our social fabric, respecting the task of the judiciary in ascertaining the facts, without forgetting the great cultural and social responsibility of the 'Universities and all institutions also in the fight against mafia phenomena, which today more than ever calls for the civic duty to open a broad reflection, and not to hastily set it aside."
(Unioneonline/ss)