Turin, Italy--Erri de Luca, the Italian writer on trial for inciting criminal damage to a controversial high-speed rail link through the Alps, told a court Wednesday he was only capable of inciting people to read or write.
De Luca, who was spending his 65th birthday before a judge, faces a possible five-year prison term in a case that has become a cause celebre for the anti-globalisation movement.
He has framed his prosecution as an assault on the right to free expression and has insisted he will go to jail rather than appeal if convicted.
He told AFP on Wednesday that he was not worried about giving evidence, despite the possibility of ending up behind bars.
"I have done so many interviews over the course of my life that I consider this hearing as just another one," he said.
At the heart of the case are statements made by De Luca in interviews in which he described as legitimate attempts to sabotage a project that has become a focus for anti-globalisation protesters.
His defence is essentially that sabotage has several possible meanings, not all of them amounting to criminal action.
"If you look in the Italian dictionary, sabotage has several meanings," he told a courtroom packed with his supporters and journalists.
"Certainly it can mean to cause significant damage, but it can also mean to stop, to disturb, to obstruct," he said in a steady and clear voice.
"I can incite (people) to read, at a push to write, but not sabotage," he said.
AFP
