Professor Carlo Gilardi
Airuno, Italy
Friend of Member Matteo Bojanovich
Carlo Gilardi, born on December 4, 1930, is a retired high school teacher, poet, farmer, known as a benefactor of his neighbors and of his native small town of 2800 people, Airuno, in the province of Lecco. His detention, on October 27, 2020 is creating a movement for the protection of the elderly from abuses of the guardianship system.
THE BENEFACTOR OF AIRUNO
Born in a wealthy family, since childhood he was aware of his privileges. The time was the 1930’s, and Carlo went to school wearing white socks and white shoes; the children of peasants had no shoes, they had wooden clogs.
Gilardi, besides paying taxes, also gave gifts to his town: some cash to buy a defibrillator, or land to create a park, or a parking lot for the kindergarten. Asked why, he said: “There are only two of us, left from my family, a sister and I, both now so old. We were born in this town, why not remember it with a concrete gesture to show that we do love our town?”
Gilardi gave to everyone who was in trouble. These were the comments that his neighbors made to Nina Palmieri of Le Iene, when she arrived in town with her TV crew:
“He helped so many; all Airuno he helped.”
“He never flaunted his great wealth.”
“A benefactor of the people:”
“Who was in need knew he was there, the point of reference.”
“They all came to him, and he housed them in his great house.”
“People who had divorce problems, who were getting evicted…”.
“He worked from morning till night with the animals, that was his first interest in life…”
“I came here when I was fifteen, a servant girl… and Mr. Gilardi decided to give us this house.”
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
The last line above was spoken by an old lady, in front of a nice big house.
Interviewed in January 2020, Gilardi had said: “I am content with little, I just satisfy the needs of the soul, for the rest I am gratified to make myself available to others. I just wait for the good God to grant the grace to call me to himself.”
https://www.ilgiorno.it/lecco/cronaca/airuno-professore-gilardi-ricoverato-1.5698239
THE LAW ENTERS INTO THE QUIET LIFE OF A NINETY-YEAR-OLD
THE LOSS OF HIS RIGHT TO USE HIS OWN MONEY: The story that propelled Prof. Carlo Gilardi into the news, began when his older sister, Sandra Gilardi, already living in an old age home, asked the intervention of the judiciary regarding the habits of her little brother, who seemed too generous, to the point that she feared that he might fall into poverty. In 2017, a judge intervened, and took control of Gilardi’s estate, so that he was protected and no one could take advantage of his generosity. The guardianship judge in 2020 is Marta Paganini.
DEPRESSION: On January 1, 2020, Gilardi posted, on the gate to his big house, next to town hall, a sad farewell letter, addressed “to my dear fellow citizens,” in which he asked for forgiveness “for any possible failures. Gilardi closed by saying: “I have become a useless being to society, a true ruin, and I only look forward to the happy day of my passing.”
https://www.carlogilardi.com/it/54-la-liberta-e-facile-da-perdere
This letter resulted in a service of Teleunica.com/lecco, in which Barbara Gerosa saw “perhaps a hidden request for help, because he lives alone, in conditions of extreme rigor.”
The Teleunica video had a good result: the court-appointed guardian, attorney Adriana Lanfranconi, hired a helper for Gilardi, Brahim El Mazoury, the same one whom she had, two years earlier, accused of taking advantage of Gilardi.
https://www.recnews.it/2020/11/18/tutrice-carlo-gilardi-elena-barra-brahim-rsa-airuno-lecco-le-iene
As a child, El Mazoury had lived for years, together with his family, as guest in the Professor’s big house. He certainly returned the favour: without Brahim’s recordings, Nina Palmieri would have never come to Airuno, and the poor rich prisoner would have hopelessly died, unseen and unnoticed, crushed by a blind and greedy justice system.
THE EVENTS THAT BROUGHT PROFESSOR GILARDI TO THE MADHOUSE: In the summer of 2020, deprived of the right to use his money for his farm and his beloved animals, Gilardi had to wait for weeks, before being able to buy essential items for the farm, such as a used pickup truck to bring to the barn the hay that he and Brahim El Mazoury had cut. But now he saw clues that made him fear that he might lose even his personal freedom.
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
Gilardi went to the office of attorney Lanfranconi, driven there by Brahim El Mazoury; turning to Brahim, Lanfranconi said that she knew well “that he is better off in his field, hard at work, than in an old age home. Putting Mr. Carlo in a very beautiful retirement home where he eats very well, is very well taken care of, would mean killing him.”
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
To defend himself from such fate, Gilardi visited a psychiatrist. The report says: “No abnormalities or signs suggestive of pathologies under way. His thinking is devoid of alterations in form or in content…Mr. Carlo Gilardi has also preserved judgement and is in touch with reality, and shows no signs of mental or cognitive deterioration.”
https://www.carlogilardi.com/it/54-la-liberta-e-facile-da-perdere
In September 2020, Gilardi hired attorney Silvia Agazzi, who presented a complaint to the Prosecutor’s office, in which Giraldi stated that the bank was not even allowing him simple vision of his own bank account and that “in the Year 2018 Ms. Lanfranconi had made a transfer of 40,000 euros to a party known to her.”
https://www.carlogilardi.com/it/54-la-liberta-e-facile-da-perdere
GILARDI IS FORCED TO MOVE: At that point, attorney Lanfranconi withdrew from the case; in October 2020, she was succeeded by the attorney Elena Barra, about whom Lanfranconi had previously said, “she is a dear friend of mine, and she is a very good [lawyer].”
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/video/carlo-gilardi-rsa-40-giorni_952011.shtml?r=q1
d93576af3f5de3a73fd9d170ef9603b63791c4ee3f5985d5847000ee2a1a6c65
Attorney Barra declared Gilardi’s houses inadequate. Since 2017, four court-appointed attorneys had seen no problem in regard to Gilardi’s homes. After the television piece of Teleunica in January 2020, attorney Lanfranconi hired El Mazoury. If he had not kept the house well for the Professor, he would certainly have been fired by Lanfranconi.
There are reasons to believe that the order to vacate his house was intended to cause Gilardi to move to El Mazoury’s house in nearby Brivio, where he could be quietly apprehended, without commotion, without videos being taken or incidents with neighbours. The disappearance of Professor Gilardi would have removed the threat to the careers of three attorneys and a judge.
Gilardi obeyed attorney Barra’s decision and notified her that he was moving into Brahim El Mazoury’s house.
https://www.carlogilardi.com/it/64-chi-mente-brahim-il-professore-o-l-avvocato-barra
On October 16, Gilardi wrote: “My financial assets are at the Banca Popolare of Sondrio in Lecco, but despite my repeated requests I cannot see the bank records. ..There’s something shady that someone wants to hide from me. Has anyone made a withdrawal and now fears the consequences? I am a person who can forgive to a large extent, but they need to tell me the truth.”
Gilardi also taped to his front gate, on the main square of Airuno, steps away from the office of Mayor Milani, a note saying, “The lawyers want to lock me up in a hospice to shut me up and enjoy my money without any interference from me.”
https://www.carlogilardi.com/it/62-deportato-per-farlo-star-zitto
A SERIES OF ILLEGALITIES
THE ARREST: It was not a real arrest, it was a “special arrest”, so special that the detained person was denied attorney, visits, correspondence, and phone calls.
Yet, it had all the appearance of an arrest: it was October 27, 2020, and attorney Barra arrived with two police patrols, an ambulance, and Dr. Enrico Messina. There was a discussion between Barra and the professor, who said: “To take me away you have to put me in handcuffs. Otherwise I’m not coming. With handcuffs on, I obey to the forces of the law.”
Attorney Barra threatened to drug Professor Gilardi, at which point he could rationally conclude that his situation would be better if he entered the hospice conscious than unconscious; so, he went with them without further resistance.
As El Mazoury tells us, they took him, one to the right and one to the left and down the stairs they went. The last words from the professor can be heard, as he cries out, spokesman for 1000 and more victims of the rapacious guardianship system: “I want my freedom that you have taken away from me.“
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
That’s how Gilardi disappeared from view and was not heard from again, until when El Mazoury approached an Italian TV show with the story of Professor Gilardi and his recordings. Without them, the Professor would have been gone, disappeared from the world of the living. No one knew, his friends and relatives did not know where he was.
Then Nina Palmieri of the Le Iene TV show came to Airuno, and people learned who was responsible for Carlo’s disappearance: attorney Elena Barra. Asked, she said the Professor’s new residence was secret and had to be kept secret to protect him. But Nina Palmieri asked the audience to write to: vogliamonotiziedicarlo @gmail.com. That’s how the professor was tracked down to a large hospice in Lecco, where more than ten righteous people worked.
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
MEDICAL ILLEGALITIES: In Article 1 of the law of 13 May 1978, n.180, we read that “mandatory health checks and treatments are arranged by the mayor, in his capacity as local health authority, upon the motivated proposal of a doctor.”
http://www.edizionieuropee.it/LAW/HTML/50/zn86_15_011.html
Dr. Enrico Messina was not Gilardi’s doctor. He arrived with attorney Barra on October 27; on that day, did he observe any signs of psychiatric pathology in the Professor? To the deceptive invitation of attorney Barra to come with her to go see a cardiologist, Gilardi answered, “To the hospice, I am not going.” He thought they wanted to take him to the hospice. It was worse, they were taking him to the asylum, to the Psychiatric Section of the Airoldi and Muzzi Institutes in Lecco.
https://www.iene.mediaset.it/2020/news/carlo-rsa_929781.shtml
Dr. Enrico Messina had no ground upon which to base his proposal to lock up Professor Gilardi in a mental institution. Yet, he had already presented his proposal to the Mayor, who had signed it. As proposals go, it was totally unmotivated. Is it a criminal offence, for a doctor to present an unmotivated proposal for an ASO? Would Dr. Messina sign an ASO for a journalist who was asking embarrassing questions? That’s what happened to independent reporters in China. What’s worse, to ask for an ASO for a young reporter who asks too many questions or for an old man who signs a complaint against a lawyer?
VIOLATION OF THE LAW THAT ALLOWS COMMUNICATION TO THE DETAINEE: In the text of Law 13 May 1978, n. 180,“Voluntary and compulsory health checks and treatments” we read that “in the course of compulsory health treatment those who are subjected to it have the right to communicate with whom they deem appropriate.” Lawyer Barra offered her help, saying ” I take it upon myself to bring to Mr. Gilardi the greetings, the concern, the writings, and the contact…”
https://www.recnews.it/2020/11/18/tutrice-carlo-gilardi-elena-barra-brahim-rsa-airuno-lecco-le-iene/
The offer was very kind, but did not give Gilardi the “right to communicate.” Gilardi, two months after his arrest, still has no right to send or receive mail or make phone calls.
FALSIFICATION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS: According to the testimony of brave whistleblowers from Airoldi and Muzzi Institutes, it seems that there were illegal alterations of the medical documents created for Gilardi. SPDC stands for Psychiatric Service of Diagnosis and Care, which is what they now call mental hospitals.
The word TSO has disappeared, now it says only short social hospitalization in the psychiatric ward… He entered under order of hospitalization, until the end of his life…and patient contrary, also this black on white.
rsa-cartella-clinica-cambiata_946661.shtml
Prof. Gilardi’s medical record was modified twice: from “TSO in SPDC decided by administrator” to “Brief social hospitalization in SPDC,” to “hospitalization in SPDC to facilitate the execution of screening for Sars-CoV-2”.
ALLEGATIONS OF ANTI-MUSLIM PREJUDICE: It may not be illegal to exploit religious prejudices, but there remains a close nexus between the transmission of Le Iene on the Giraldi case, and the charges against the Seven Muslims. In 2018, attorney Lanfranconi had accused Brahim El Mazoury of taking advantage of Prof. Gilardi. In February 2020, Ms. Lanfranconi hired El Mazoury as a family assistant for Gilardi. As a child, he had been guest of Gilardi for years.
On November 17, 2020, the Le Iene show on Giraldi is aired.
On November 18, attorney Barra reveals that the prosecutor’s office is investigating seven people for taking advantage of a disabled person. Ms. Barra is quoted as saying that Brahim is on the list of suspects. Ms. Barra explains: “I am bound by professional secrecy and there is an investigation by the prosecutor’s office… it is an extremely delicate case… Professor Carlo is fine.”
On November 30, the investigation ended, and the Public Prosecutor Figoni revealed charges against seven defendants, of whom only one is known, all described as Tunisians and Moroccans.
So many people in Airuno received aid from Gilardi, that the emphasis on Muslims has led many to suspect that Judge Paganini, on November 18, asked the colleague, prosecutor Figoni, to start “an investigation” on Brahim, and that he tacked on the name of every Muslim guest at Gilardi’s house.
Of course the silly charge against the Seven Muslims was mounted not to get convictions but to use as chaff, to attract people’s attention and to get press on the “trial”, as Carlo is dying forgotten. La function of the Seven is to protect judge and lawyers.
So all local media and the stupid/prejudiced people who believe anything, will accept the idea that the arrest was necessary to protect Gilardi from the dangerous Seven.
DARK LOCAL INTERESTS? On the occasion of a summer 2020 visit by Gilardi to attorney Lanfranconi, she suggested the existence of a group of influential people who wanted Gilardi to be removed from town. She had said: “There has been someone who felt that you should go to a nursing home. There are people who would like you locked up in a shelter.”
At first it seemed that it was just a matter of lawyers or judges hiding some theft, then the words of attorney Lanfranconi made it clear that there were dark local interests at work: prominent people in town wanted Gilardi out of action.
Every elderly person who owns a house must fear such an eventuality, that his disappearance from the scene might be convenient to some relative. For example, if there is fear that an elderly person may have discovered some wrongdoing and may try to change the will, all that needs to be done is lock her up at the asylum, according to the Airuno method: “She had some strange ideas in her head..and what friends!.. we really had to protect her.”
OFFICIAL REACTIONS: The Council of the Bar Association of Lecco expresses “the most sincere solidarity and closeness “to attorney Barra, against “the reprehensible and summary drift of hatred, flaring in countless posts on social networks in relation to the aforementioned Le Iene show towards the colleague and more generally, towards the role of the attorney and the administration of Justice”.
The National Association of Magistrates section at the Court of Lecco declares as follows: “The judge and the court-appointed attorney, who are dealing with the procedure to the benefit of Prof. Carlo Gilardi, have been subjected to an unfair media lynching…the reconstruction of the story spread by a well known tv show… has no correspondence with the real situation…over the years, countless initiatives have been taken to distance [Gilardi] from situations of risk and exploitation to which he was exposed…this media campaign has sparked, on social media, dozens and dozens of comments seriously defamatory, abusive and threatening towards the procedural organs.
