Meloni ally comes under fire in case involving Italian anarchist

A parliamentarian from Italy's ruling Brothers of Italy party has been targeted by law enforcement for allegedly publishing secret information in the case of an imprisoned anarchist on hunger strike, according to Italian media reports on Wednesday.

The public prosecutor's office in Rome is investigating statements by Giovanni Donzelli on suspicion that he divulged secret information during a parliamentary session on Tuesday about the anarchist Alfredo Cospito.

Donzelli is a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party.

Cospito has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days to protest his incarceration conditions, which are more difficult because of his convictions, which stem from both a bomb and a gun attack.

Harsher conditions like this are generally reserved for big Mafia names.

Donzelli, citing Justice Department files, said Cospito had been in contact with the Mafia groups Camorra and 'Ndrangheta in recent weeks which had apparently encouraged him to continue his hunger strike.

The opposition demanded Donzelli's resignation as deputy head of the parliamentary committee for monitoring the secret services, but Donzelli fired back.

"I didn't break any secrets," he said in an interview with Wednesday's edition of the Corriere della Sera newspaper. He said he did not receive any documents, but asked the state secretary in the Ministry of Justice, his party colleague Andrea Delmastro, for further details on the Cospito case. He denied relaying any secret information.

The Italian government has said it would not tamper with rules allowing for Cospito's current incarceration conditions.