Advertisement

Torture has finally been criminalized in Italy

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Torture has finally been criminalized in Italy
Activists hold placards against torture during a 2015 rally in Rome. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Italian lawmakers on Wednesday finally passed a bill making torture a crime under national law, after years of parliamentary back-and-forth.

Advertisement

Rome signed the UN Convention Against Torture in 1984 but had never transferred it into national legislation.


Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill that makes torture punishable by four to ten years in prison - 12 for members of the security forces - with 198 backing the legislation, 35 opposing it and 104 abstaining.

Torture is defined under the law as "intense physical suffering or psychological trauma verifiably caused by violence, grave threats or cruel actions".

In 2015 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) blasted Italy for police violence against anti-globalisation activists on the margins of a 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, judging that officers' actions against protesters sheltering in a school were akin to torture.

Several members of the Italian security forces were convicted after the violence, but this did not include any officers who had been at the scene.

The ECHR criticized this decision, saying it showed there was a "structural problem" with Italian legislation.

READ ALSO: Italy passes law to stop criminals profiting from slow-paced justice systemItaly passes law to stop criminals profiting from slow-paced justice system
Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also