Italy’s Meloni shocks opponents with alleged rape video

By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — The far-right candidate who aspires to be Italy’s first female premier has come under fire from opponents for posting a pixelized video that purports to show a woman being raped by an asylum-seeker. Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy party that has neo-fascist roots, on Sunday evening reposted a video from an Italian news site taken by a witness from a window. The woman in the video, identified as Ukrainian, can be heard yelling in distress. A 27-year-old asylum-seeker from Guinea has been arrested in the attack.  Meloni’s main opponent in Italy’s Sept. 25 parliamentary vote, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, said reposting the video went beyond “the bounds of dignity and decency.”