Italian PM Giorgia Meloni appoints minister once caught wearing Nazi armband

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has appointed a politician as a junior minister who was once pictured wearing a Nazi armband.

Galeazzo Bignami, a member of the far-right neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party, was picked as the undersecretary at the infrastructure ministry—a move condemned by the opposition parties.

The infrastructure ministry is headed by right-wing League party leader Matteo Salvini, who is also the deputy prime minister.

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Bignami, a 47-year-old lawyer, won general elections in September for the second consecutive term.

In 2016, he caused a massive outrage after a photograph of him wearing the Hakenkreuzarmband was published by an Italian newspaper. The photo dates back to a party he attended in 2005.

In a statement on Monday, Bignami expressed “profound shame” for the pictures and deplored "any form of totalitarianism," calling Nazism and any movement connected to it "the absolute evil".

Watch |Italy: Meloni to face confidence votes in Parliament next week

While making the announcement, Meloni did not mention the photo but repeatedly condemned the infamous racist, anti-Jewish laws enacted by dictator Benito Mussolini in 1938.

Last week while speaking at the parliament, she mentioned the infamous anti-Jewish laws saying that she "never felt any sympathy for fascism".

"I have always considered the (anti-Semitic) racial laws of 1938 the lowest point of Italian history, a shame that will taint our people forever," she said in parliament.

The appointment of Bignami drew wide condemnation from the Italian anti-fascism association, Anpi, and opposition politicians including Marco Furfaro, a deputy with the Democratic party, who called it “an offence, an indecency against the constitution, history, memory and victims of the swastika”.

Furfaro added: “Shame on youGiorgia Meloni”, reports the Guardian newspaper.

Notably, Bignami is not the only minister whose controversial appointment raised eyebrows.

Claudio Durigon, who proposed renaming a park in the Lazio town of Latina after the brother of Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, is now an undersecretary at the labour ministry.

(With inputs from agencies)

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