An Italian journalist has been ordered to pay Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni damages of €5,000 (£4,210) over social media posts making fun of her height.

A judge ruled that two tweets by Giulia Cortese, who was also handed a suspended fine of €1,200, were defamatory and amounted to “body shaming”.

It followed an exchange in which Ms Cortese described Ms Meloni as a “little woman” and told her: “I can’t even see you.”

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

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

Ms Meloni was seen in the image standing in front of a bookshelf on to which a framed photo of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had been artificially added.

In a post on Facebook, Ms Meloni said the image was of “unique gravity” and that she would be taking legal action.

Later the same day, Mr Cortese said she had deleted the image after realising it was fake, but accused Ms Meloni of creating a “media pillory” against her and said the Facebook post showed that she was a “little woman”.

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

Ms Meloni’s height is reported in Italian media to be 1.63m (5ft 3in).

Ms Cortese was cleared for posting the initial image but convicted over the later 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.

Responding to the verdict on X, Ms Cortese wrote: “Italy’s government has a serious problem with freedom of expression and journalistic dissent.

“This country seems to get closer to [Viktor] Orbán’s Hungary: these are bad times for independent journalists and opinion leaders. Let’s hope for better days ahead. We won’t give up!”

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