Mario Roggero's wife appeals to Mattarella for pardon as Salvini visits the jeweller in prison and the League pushes for broader self-defence law

The appeal for clemency

Mariangela Sandrone, wife of jeweller Mario Roggero, has formally asked President Sergio Mattarella to grant her husband a pardon. Roggero was definitively sentenced by the Court of Cassation on Wednesday to 14 years and 9 months for killing two robbers and wounding a third during a 2021 raid on his shop in Grinzane Cavour. He entered Bollate prison near Milan on Friday evening.

In an exclusive interview with La Stampa, Sandrone framed her request in personal terms.

I address President Mattarella as a wife and as a mother, with the utmost respect for his role as head of state. I ask him only to look beyond the court papers, to consider Mario's age, the trauma he has suffered, and the fact that he is not a danger to society. I ask him for an act of clemency and humanity to allow an elderly man to spend the last years of his life with his family.

Sandrone said she feels suspended in a nightmare that has become reality, describing her husband as a man deeply attached to his family, a tireless worker, a caring husband and grandfather, not the vigilante some have depicted. The family also posted on social media defending him over a 2005 incident involving a confrontation with a daughter's boyfriend, insisting it was paternal protective instinct rather than a punitive expedition and that the appeals court itself confirmed that the old precedent did not weigh on the current conviction.

The pardon process slows

After an initial acceleration that saw Mattarella summon Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, the government now appears to be applying the brakes. The instruction phase requires a detailed report on Roggero's prison conduct from surveillance staff, psychologists and other personnel he encounters during detention. This material will be collected by ministry offices and sent to the Turin Court of Appeal's prosecutor general, Lucia Musti, for a non-binding opinion before any presidential decision.

The process is unlikely to begin before the court files its reasoning for the conviction, which must happen within three months. Roggero's lawyer Stefano Marcolini acknowledged that presidential instruction timelines are long: the pardon is an interesting prospect but one of long duration. Parallel to the pardon request, Roggero's legal team has also filed for a deferral of the sentence and an urgent suspension with the supervisory court, but any suspension cannot exceed six months.

Salvini at Bollate

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini visited Roggero at Bollate for the second consecutive day on Sunday. According to ANSA, the two embraced and spoke at length, drank coffee together, and met the prison chaplain. Roggero told Salvini he had brought many books with him, promised to become a user of the prison library from Monday, and visited the metalworking workshop inside the facility. The jeweller also recounted having dinner with three other inmates on Saturday evening.

Salvini renewed his support and suggested Roggero write down his experience and collect it into a book. He also revealed he is speaking with two League parliamentarians, Giulia Bongiorno and Simonetta Matone, to offer every possible support to minimise Roggero's time in detention. Speaking to Radio24, Salvini argued that a 14-year, 9-month sentence for a 72-year-old effectively means life imprisonment. He framed the case as one of an ordinary citizen who reacted in fear for himself and his family.

What happened to Mario Roggero could happen to anyone tomorrow morning. We are not talking about score-settling between rival gangs or a dangerous offender with a criminal record. We are talking about a 72-year-old gentleman who worked in the family shop his whole life, a husband, father, grandfather of eight grandchildren, who during yet another assault, yet another robbery on his property, in the presence of his wife and daughter, felt threatened and reacted.

A new self-defence law

Not content with seeking a pardon, the League is also preparing a bill to amend Italy's self-defence law, the same law Salvini championed as interior minister in 2019. The current article 52 of the penal code requires a defensive reaction to be proportional to the offence and justified by a danger in progress at the moment it is carried out. Judges did not find these elements in Roggero's conduct because he shot the robbers while they were fleeing.

The new proposal, authored by senator Claudio Borghi, would add a clause establishing that in the event of an armed attack inside one's home or business, any reaction is not punishable regardless of the proportionality of the means used, the persistence of the danger, or the strictly defensive nature of the conduct.

Political clash

The case has triggered a sharp political divide. The centre-right bloc, including Salvini, General Roberto Vannacci and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, is pushing for the pardon and promoting a broader conception of self-defence. Vannacci stated that whoever is attacked is always acting in legitimate defence. Tajani reiterated Forza Italia's line that Roggero was wrong but one must also understand the situation he found himself in.

On the left, figures including Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte, PD secretary Elly Schlein, and Azione leader Carlo Calenda have accused the right of exploiting the case for political gain. Conte argued that the state has offloaded the responsibility for self-defence onto citizens. The Roggero family, for its part, has expressed dismay at what it calls the media pillory, insisting Mario is an ordinary, honest person for whom house arrest would have made far more sense.

The family in Grinzane Cavour

The Roggero jewellery shop remains closed. The family is focusing on urgent practical needs, including the future reopening of the business, while daughter Luisa alleges the affair has been heavily instrumentalised. Mariangela Sandrone told TG1 the family is living minute by minute and considers detention in a cell unjust after 50 years of honest work, without denying the tragedy of the two lives lost.