The senior politician who caused outrage by comparing Italy's first black minister to an orang-utan now claims he is under siege from vengeful African spirits.
Deputy Senate Speaker Roberto Calderoli invited national and international opprobrium last year when he said the then Integration Minister, Congolese-born Cecile Kyenge, resembled an ape. He issued only a mealy-mouthed apology and has refused to resign.
In November, Calderoli took legal advice when it became clear he was to stand trial in Brescia, charged with defamation aggravated by racial discrimination. The trial is ongoing.
But now it has emerged that he is also taking mystical advice, after claiming video evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo shows that Kyenge's father, a tribal leader, has put a "macumba" - an African curse - on him as punishment.
After a series of misfortunes since the "orang-utan" comment - six surgical interventions (two life-saving), the death of his mother, fractured bones and, last week, the discovery of a 1.8m snake in the kitchen of his house in Bergamo - Calderoli is in no doubt about the magical nature of the threat, and has consulted a mystic.
