The Second Matteotti Trial

The Matteotti murder trial was held again in 1947. One of the first acts of the High Commissioner for Sanctions Against Fascism was to re-conduct trials that had taken place during the 20 years of fascism because the fair application of justice had not been guaranteed. Law n. 159 of July 27, 1944, established that all judgements pronounced during the 20-year fascist period resulting in prison sentences of more than three years could be nullified if moral coercion of the past regime had clearly influenced the decision. Armed with the appropriate legal tools, deputy high commissioner Mario Berlinguer set to work; naturally one of the first trials to be examined was the Matteotti trial of 1926.