Saviano had faced a possible jail term of three years, while a prosecutor had requested a fine of 10,000 euros, 10 times what he eventually got.
Saviano, the author of the Gomorra expose, made the comment while talking about a baby who died in a migrant crossing.
Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI), has used strong rhetoric on the issue of migration.
Saviano said the same thing about League leader Matteo Salvini, the current deputy PM and infrastructure minister.
Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation after Meloni, who at the time was in opposition, filed a complaint. Salvini is a civil plaintiff in the trial.
The writer also faces a separate trial for having called Salvini the “minister of the underworld” on another occasion.
Saviano has been in police protection since the publication of Gomorra in 2006 lifted the lid on the Casalesi clan of Campania’s Camorra mafia.
The book was turned into a 2008 film that won second prize at Cannes and was the inspiration for a successful Sky TV series.
The Camorra is Italy’s third-biggest criminal organisation behind Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta and Sicily’s Cosa Nostra.
Press freedom groups have criticised the trial and the fact that defamation is a criminal offence in Italy.
When he called the two politicians “bastards”, Saviano referred to their previous statements criticising NGO rescue ships as “sea taxis” and “cruise ships”.
Saviano told the court before the verdict “I think Giorgia Meloni’s conduct is an act of intimidation”.
“Amid the absurdity of being taken to trial by the prime minister for having criticised her, there is no greater honour for a writer than to see their words scare such a mendacious power.
“When it is asked, one day, how it was possible to let all these people die at sea, my name will not be among the accomplices.”
ANSA
