A court in Milan ordered a journalist to pay Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni 5,000 euros in compensation for mocking her in a post on social networks, reports "Reuters", quoted by BTA .
Journalist Julia Cortese also received a €1,200 conditional fine for mocking Meloni's height on Twitter (now X) in October 2021, which was defined as the so-called "bodyshaming".
Meloni took legal action against Cortese after the two women got into an argument on social media.
Melloni, whose far-right party "Italian Brothers" was in opposition at the time, came under fire after Cortese published a collage with her photo and a photo of the late fascist leader Benito Mussolini in the background.
Cortese responded with additional posts, one of which stated: "You don't scare me, Georgia Meloni. After all, you're only 1.2 meters tall. I can't even notice you."
Meloni's height is listed as between 1.58m and 1.63m in various media websites.
Cortese may appeal the sentence, and Meloni's lawyer said the prime minister would donate any compensation he might receive to charity.
A large number of cases against journalists were cited this year by "Reporters Without Borders" as the reason Italy slipped five places to 46th in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
Meloni is not the first to take journalists to court. Last year, a court in Rome fined best-selling author Roberto Saviano €1,000 plus legal costs after he insulted her on TV in 2021 for her tough stance on illegal immigration.
Journalists from Italy's state broadcaster RAI went on strike in May to protest the "suffocating controls" on their work by the Meloni government.