On July 20, at the age of 75, Italian lawyer and parliamentarian Giuseppe Consolo died, the Italian publications “Mattino“ and “Corriere Romano“ reported, quoted by BTA.
He died in Rome.
Giuseppe Consolo is the lawyer of Sergei Antonov, who, together with two other Bulgarians, is accused of being an accomplice in the preparation of the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in “St. Peter“ Square in the Vatican. The trial began on May 27, 1985. and ended in March 1986, with Antonov being acquitted.
In 2018, Giuseppe Consolo's book "The Assassination of the Pope - the True Story" was published in Bulgaria by the University Publishing House "St. Kliment Ohridski", which tells the story of the assassination of the Pope and the "Bulgarian trail".
Giuseppe Consolo was born on September 6, 1948 in Naples. He is married to Princess Natalia Nikolaevna Romanova, a descendant of the Russian Romanov dynasty. Consolo's daughter from this marriage - Nicoletta Romanoff, is an Italian actress, recalls "Mattino".
Consolo graduated in law in 1970 from the University of Catania. Over the years, in addition to being a lawyer, he has also been a journalist and associate professor of constitutional law at the Faculty of Law of the Free International University of Social Sciences "Guido Carli".
In 2001, Consolo was elected to the Senate of the Italian Parliament by the "National Union" party, led at the time by Gianfranco Fini. The party subsequently entered Silvio Berlusconi's broad coalition "People of Freedom". Since 2006, Consolo has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies for two terms. In 2010, he abandoned "People of Freedom" and became part of the political project "Future and Freedom for Italy", which is in opposition to Silvio Berlusconi's fourth government. In 2013 ran for a new senatorial term, this time from Mario Monti's "With Monti for Italy" list, but was not elected, recalls "Mattino".
Giuseppe Consolo was awarded the title of "Doctor Honoris Causa" by Sofia University in 2016. The announcement on the occasion of the awarding ceremony of this title on the university's website at the time quoted the words of Professor Sasho Penov, Dean of the Faculty of Law, who said: "In his practice, Professor Consolo consistently adheres to one of the fundamental principles of law, that a person is innocent until proven guilty. He succeeds, putting his whole heart into it, to uphold this principle and apply it in the practical part of law, including in the trial against the Bulgarian citizen Sergey Antonov“.
The publication on the university's website recalls that as an Italian parliamentarian, “Professor Consolo defends his position that law is a system of values that we must all respect“.
The Dean of the Faculty of Law of Sofia University emphasizes that Professor Giuseppe Consolo is a great friend of Bulgaria and thanks to him, contacts have been established with Italian universities and many professors from Sofia University will have the opportunity to give lectures and create friendships there, the publication also states.
Upon receiving the title, in his speech, Consolo thanked all his colleagues and students who wanted to make this day an extremely important date in his life, the announcement on the website of Sofia University. It also adds Consolo's words that while working on the defense of Sergei Antonov, he was ready to do anything to achieve his goal. And the goal was not only to obtain an acquittal for Sergei Antonov, but above all to restore the dignity of a country that, through no fault of its own, risked losing its dignity. According to Professor Consolo, this is something that should never be allowed.
For the title “Doctor Honoris Causa“ granted to him Consolo then said that “Bulgarians who understood what his true purpose was during those years decided to reward not the defender, but the man who turned what was initially a cause into a life mission dedicated to defending a country in order to clean up the stain that had been inflicted on it“.
Professor Consolo then emphasized in his speech that the Bulgarian nation has an extremely long history, and Bulgaria is among the outstanding European countries.
In his speech, the professor also said that during the defense of Sergei Antonov, his mission included serious diplomatic activity and research into Bulgarian history, which allowed him to discover who the brothers Cyril and Methodius were. In his speech, Professor Consolo also emphasized that Sergei Antonov had absolutely nothing to do with the accusations that were unfairly made against him.
The President of the Italian Senate, Ignazio La Russa, expressed condolences on the death of the Italian lawyer and parliamentarian Giuseppe Consolo, who was also a long-time senator, reports the Italian publication “Denaro“, quoted by BTA.
“It is with deep sorrow that I learned of the death of my friend, former senator and deputy Giuseppe Consolo“, La Russa wrote on his Facebook channel.
„Journalist and lawyer, he dedicated a large part of his life to politics and institutions. On my own behalf and on behalf of the Senate of the Republic, I express my deepest condolences to his loved ones“, added La Russa.
Ignazio La Russa and Giuseppe Consolo were previously part of the „National Union“ formation, which later joined Silvio Berlusconi's broad coalition „People of Freedom“. Giorgia Meloni was also a member of the „National Union“. After that, La Russa and Meloni left the “People of Freedom“ and created a separate party “Italian Brothers“, which is ruling today in Italy.
In 2010, Consolo became part of the political project “Future and Freedom for Italy“, which is in opposition to the fourth government of Silvio Berlusconi. In 2013, in the parliamentary elections, Consolo ran for a new senatorial mandate, but this time from the list “With Monti for Italy“ of Prime Minister Mario Monti, but was not elected, recalls the “Mattino“ newspaper.