An Italian court has ordered a journalist to pay Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni €5,000 (£4,210) in damages over social media posts mocking her height.

A judge has ruled that two tweets posted by Julia Cortez, who was also given a suspended fine of €1,200, were defamatory and amounted to “insulting the body”.

This came after an exchange in which Ms Cortez described Ms Meloni as a “little woman” and told her: “I can’t even see you.”

Reacting to the ruling, Cortese said the Italian government had a “serious problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent.”

The pair first clashed in October 2021, when Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party was still in opposition, after Cortese posted a mocking image of Meloni on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ms Meloni is pictured standing in front of a bookshelf to which a framed portrait of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has been artificially added.

in Reply on FacebookMs Meloni said the image had “unique appeal” and that she would take legal action.

Later that day, Mr Curtis said she deleted the photo after realising it was fake, But accused Ms Meloni was accused of creating a “media campaign” against her, and said the Facebook post made her appear “a little woman”.

She later said in Separate post“You don’t scare me, Georgia Meloni. After all, you’re only 1.2m tall. [3ft 9in] Tall. I can’t even see you.

Italian media reported that Ms Meloni is 1.63 metres (5 feet 3 inches) tall.

Ms. Cortez was acquitted of posting the initial photo, but was convicted over subsequent tweets.

She has the option to appeal but has not yet confirmed whether she will do so.

Ms Meloni’s lawyer said she would donate any money she received to charity.

In response to the X ruling, Ms. Cortese wrote: “The Italian government has a serious problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent.

“It seems that this country is approaching [Viktor] “Hungary under Orbán: These are difficult times for independent journalists and opinion leaders. Let us hope for better days ahead. We will not give up!”

She later added that she was “Italian and proud of it” but that “we deserve better than this appalling and shameful government”.