Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni's partner accused of blaming survivor for rape

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's partner Andrea Giambruno, a journalist, suggested that women could avoid sexual assaults if they do not get too drunk. The country's opposition parties have asked Meloni to clarify and distance herself from Giambruno's comments.

“If you go dancing you are fully entitled to get drunk, but if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, perhaps you’d also avoid getting into trouble, because then you’ll find the wolf,” Andrea Giambruno was heard saying on his show on Rete 4 channel.

Giambruno was hosting a show in the wake of a recent high-profile gang rape case near Naples and in Palermo.

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Giambruno is father to a seven-year-old with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

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Giambruno did not cross-question the editor ofLibero newspaper, Pietro Senaldi, when he reportedly said: “If you want to avoid rape, above all don’t lose consciousness, keep your wits about you.”

While both men condemned the alleged rapists, describing them as 'wolves', they came under fire both on and off social media. Giambruno was accused of blaming the survivor for a sexual assault.

Cecilia D’Elia, a senator of theopposition's Democratic party (PD) and vice-president of the commission of inquiry into femicide, was quoted as saying by The Guardian: "They just can’t help but blame women. Don’t go out alone, don’t go where it’s dark, don’t dress provocatively. All this is no longer acceptable."

"If a girl drinks too much, she can expect a headache, not a rape," she added and called on Meloni to distance herself from her partner’s comments.

“Giambruno’s words are unacceptable and shameful and they represent a male-dominated and retrograde culture,"the opposition Five Star Movement party (M5S) said in an official statement

Did nothing wrong: Giambruno

Responding to the row that erupted after his show, Giambruno said: "If I had said something wrong, I would have apologised, but that’s not the case and there will never be a day when a politician tells me what to say."

"I said rape is an abominable act. I took the liberty of telling young people not to go out on purpose to get drunk and do drugs. I advised them to be careful because, unfortunately, the bad guys are always out there. I never said that men are entitled to rape drunk women."

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