Milan – Update from October 29, 2026: The 37-page ruling justifying Youssef Siher’s release has sparked an open conflict between the government and the judiciary. Based on the current status of the investigation, Investigating Judge Tiziana Landoni sees no specific calls for violence in the 30-year-old’s published messages. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sharply criticized the decision; the Judges’ Association and the Milan Court rejected the attacks.
Siher had left the San Vittore prison on Wednesday around 4:30 p.m. Landoni did not uphold the detention order issued on October 24 and rejected pretrial detention as well as other preventive measures. The public prosecutor’s office had accused him of incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and of organized violence during public demonstrations. He remains a defendant in an ongoing proceeding; the decision regarding his detention does not constitute an acquittal.
In her review, the judge distinguished between sharp—and even vulgar—criticism of the government and a specific incitement to commit criminal acts. She described the announcement of recurring protests as political mobilization and civil disobedience. Furthermore, the cited example of French protest movements did not contain a sufficiently specific reference to acts of violence.
Why is the Youssef Siher case politically controversial?
Meloni called the release shameful and a disregard for the work of the police and investigators. The Associazione nazionale magistrati, Italy’s judges’ association, countered that decisions could be criticized on their merits and challenged through legal proceedings. Publicly delegitimizing judges, however, is incompatible with the rule of law. The Milan court also rejected the political accusations.
The statement also distinguishes between the complete version of a protest manual stored on Siher’s computer and the version published online. The latter was missing four pages containing potentially more aggressive instructions regarding the police. The Telegram and Instagram accounts of „Movimento 17 ottobre“ were not created until the evening of October 18, after the riots in Milan. The allegations concern his subsequent communications and protest planning; thus, no evidence has been found to establish his responsibility for the earlier looting.
