Nazi armband scandal politician named Italian minister

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has appointed a politician who once wore a Nazi armband as a junior minister in her Cabinet.

Galeazzo Bignami, named undersecretary at the infrastructure ministry, is a subject of controversy after a photograph of him wearing the armband at his own stag party in 2005 was leaked to an Italian newspaper in 2016.

At the time it was published, the politician brushed off the costume as "lighthearted" fun, reported The Independent newspaper.

A lawmaker in the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, Bignami was elected last month to a second term in Parliament. The Italian anti-fascism association, Anpi, and opposition politicians have condemned his appointment to the Cabinet, reported The Guardian.

Marco Furfaro, a Democratic Party member of Parliament, tweeted: "Shame on you Giorgia Meloni", calling Bignami's appointment "an indecency against the constitution, history, memory and victims of that swastika".

Meloni, the leader of Brothers of Italy, was sworn in as Italy's new prime minister last month, becoming the country's first female leader and heading its first far-right government since World War II.

She personally announced Bignami's appointment at a news conference on Monday, but did not comment on the photo, reported the Reuters news agency. It noted that Meloni has repeatedly condemned racist laws enacted by dictator Benito Mussolini in 1938.

She told Parliament last week 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 told politicians.

Bignami said in a statement that he felt "profound shame" for the 2005 image and expressed his "total and unconditional condemnation for any form of totalitarianism …and particularly the absolute evil which was Nazism."

Meloni has tried to distance herself from her party's fascist roots, but has promoted a number of lawmakers with controversial histories, drawing fierce criticism, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Claudio Durigon, named undersecretary at the labour ministry, once proposed renaming a park after the brother of Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator.

Isabella Rauti, the daughter of Pino Rauti, who was an official within the neofascist Italian Social Movement, a party established in 1946 by Mussolini's supporters, has been named a junior minister for families and births.

Other controversial junior ministerial appointments include Valentino Valentini, Lucia Borgonzoni and Vittorio Sgarbi.

The promotions have triggered a wave of anger from anti-fascist campaigners that will likely challenge Meloni's effort to establish her government as reliable and moderate, reported the Politico news website.

Left-wing opponents have warned that the appointments further highlight that the current right-wing government is "turning a blind eye to fascist sympathizers within its ranks", said the Telegraph.