Roberto Calderoli, the deputy
speaker
of Italy’s Senate, was widely
condemned after comparing Cecile
Kyenge, the former integration
minister, to an ape in June last year. He later claimed he was a
“misunderstood animal lover” and
refused to resign. But that
explanation
failed to convince the prosecutor of
Bergamo, who ordered him to stand
trial for defamation aggravated by
racial discrimination. The trial is
ongoing. After a spate of bad luck -
including
undergoing six operations, losing his
mother and last week finding a 6ft
snake in his house - Calderoli told
the
weekly gossip magazine, Oggi, that
African spirits have plotted against him in revenge for the insult. He is
now calling on the help of an
exorcist. “Maybe I should put an
ad in a
newspaper or call Bergoglio (Pope
Francis), if he’s not too busy accommodating immigrants in our
country, but I absolutely need to
find
an exorcist,” he said. Calderoli said
the string of bad luck
started after a video emerged of Kyenge’s father, Clement Kikoko
Kyenge, leading a ceremony in a
village in Democratic Republic of
Congo last year during which he
asked God to free the politician of
evil thoughts. A photo of Calderoli was
also placed in
the middle of a termite mound as
Mr
Kyenge asked ancestors of the
village to do the same. “I’ve never been
superstitious but
after this, things started happening
more and more,” Calderoli said. He
also claimed to have suffered two
broken fingers and two broken verterbrae as a result of the curse.
A lucky charm in the shape of a red
chilli pepper given to him by
friends in
an attempt to ward off the evil
spirits also mysteriously snapped in half a
day later, he said. source: www.thelocal.it/20140828/ive-
been-cursed-by-evil-african-
spirits-top-politician