The Meridian Archives

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[center][big]D’Maié Shot: Nation in shock after an assassination attempt on the Prime Minister’s life[/big][/center]

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Meridianitáie, Meridia’s military police, stand guard at the Sisilie Hospital, where the Prime Minister is being treated of his wounds.[/center]

Meridia - The country is in shock after Salviné D’Maié, the incumbent Prime Minister, was shot at a rally in Sisilie.

The gunman in question was Fransésco Di Canárto-Royáli, police say, a royalist extremist with mental health issues. It is not known how he obtained a firearm, but it is presumed that he bought it illegally.

Why did he shoot him?

Police aren’t exactly sure. There are two possible motives, very similar in context but opposites if you classify them thoroughly.

One reason might be that this royalist shooter, in his insanity, wanted to take revenge after the Republic of Meridia took away his family’s reason for being: the former Kingdom of Canarto, a state that encompassed the actual region of Canarto. The Di Canárto-Royáli is now poor and destitute compared to its past, as Meridia confiscated all of their estates right after the invasion and humiliated them by even expropriating their personal wealth and possessions. It is plausible that he saw his family as humiliated, and thus wished to exact his personal revenge on the Republic. This is a motive against the government.

Another explanation might be that he wished to punish the D’Maié family. The D’Maié were actually a branch of the former Canarto Royal Family who joined the Meridian Revolution, excelling as military officials and statesmen in their native Canarto and, recently, nationwide. Currently, they are one of the most politically savvy, influential and connected families in Canarto, and increasingly on the national stage. It is noteworthy that the Meridian Revolution ended when Canarto was still a country, and thus the D’Maié were seen as traitors by an entire state. Even more insulting to the Canarto royals was that their hated D’Maié cousins led some campaigns in the Meridian-Canarto War, adding fuel to the flame in this family feud. This died away, mostly, as the Di Canárto-Royáli then integrated into the wider Meridian society, but some few still held that fury. Unlike the other one, this motive is personal, as this is related to the Di Canárto-Royáli and D’Maié family feud.

To add even more insult to injury, some of the confiscated wealth went to the D’Maié, as Meridia rewarded them for their loyalty and Republican example by fighting for the Republic, even if it meant to discard their former blood kin.

Wait...they confiscated everything they had?

That is correct. Not even their most personal possessions were saved if they had value. This was meant to humiliate and punish the Canarto royals, and to force them to be part of the Meridian people like any other. To this day, Meridia has never formally issued an apology, and the Di Canárto-Royáli today languish in working-class poverty, or they belong to the middle class. Not one has become rich after this.

This was also meant to scare the next kingdom over: Tiguria. As the last remnant of a royal and divided Meridia, it was the next and obvious target of the Republic. Indeed, after the war and subsequent confiscations, the Tigurian royals negotiated to retain their property if they surrendered their country without a shot. It had worked, as it frightened the Tigurian royalty to death about what happened, and they were in the nick of time, as Meridia was already mobilizing its forces in secret when the kingdom proposed to negotiate. If they had delayed, even for a week or two, they would’ve been another Canarto.

Have the Di Canárto-Royáli petitioned to recover their property?

A few times, yes.

The first time was in 1874, when the family sued the government. Needless to say, they lost the case quickly, as the judge ruled that the confiscation was “part of the peace settlement” and thus the charge of theft was not valid.

They sued and appealed in other three occasions after that, with one gaining a partial victory after they recovered the few wedding-related possessions that the government still held at a museum in Canarto.

The fifth time was in 1971, when the dictator Maurelíano Acúra ruled in the Modérna Dictaturé. Bad idea. As a show of force, Maurelíano gathered the three men of the Canarto royals who sued and personally shot them. The rest of the family, even little children, were paraded at a humiliating procession, where citizens in Florenzei, Gironde, Sisilie and cities in Canarto were encouraged to mock them, all the while they were forced to publicly apologize for their family’s actions when they ruled over Canarto. After he was brutally murdered by his own armed forces in 1973, the new military junta (which lasted two years, by the way) issued an apology for the ordeal, but did not offer monetary compensation.

After this, they never tried again, as both they recalled the events of 1971, and they had integrated so much that most of the family didn’t care anymore, as they gave up. But a few still did, including the lunatic.

Why doesn’t Meridia apologize?

Modern Meridian society, albeit pacifist, is also deeply proud of its Republican tradition, and often despise Meridia’s former hereditary royalism. So, to attempt to even voluntarily give the Canarto royals their former property back would be political suicide. In fact, this was proposed before.

In late 1984, the Prime Minister of that time, Albérto Floríza, proposed to return their possessions and give monetary compensation, but it never went ahead. The next year, one of the reasons he was voted out by the electorate was because he did this. No other political figure has attempted this since.

Has there been any change on this attitude?

Not really. Either no one is sympathetic to them and don’t care (Try asking in a Republican society: “Hey, could you help me get my estates and palaces back from when my family was royalty?”, and you won’t get any empathy), or they hate the idea.

When is the shooter going on trial?

A trial session is scheduled on May 15th. Due to it being a physical assault on the Prime Minister, it is urgent, and thus no pre-trial hearings are needed to determine if the case is justiciable. Prosecutors are preparing their case, but it is likely that the defendant might plead guilty anyway.