The Constitutional court on
Wednesday opened up to permits for mafia lifers who don't
collaborate with justice, like those enjoyed by other prisoners
serving life.
A failure to turn state's evidence should not disallow
furloughs and bonus permits provided that a link to organised
crime is ruled out, the court ruled.
Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League party leader Matteo Salvini
reacted by saying the sentence was "devastating" and "we will
try to demolish it with all legally possible means".
He called the ruling "disgusting and diseducational".
Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said his offices were
"already at work" to comply with the sentence.
Longtime anti-mafia prosecutor Sebastiano Ardita said the
sentence spelled a risk that Cosa Nostra might reorganise, "if
the exception becomes the rule".
He called on parliament to intervene to make sure the mafia
doesn't pressure detention magistrates.
Earlier this month the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) on Tuesday ruled that Italy must reform its law on life
imprisonment which states that inmates cannot have time off
unless they collaborate with justice.
On October 8, the court rejected an appeal from Rome for a
new ruling after an unfavourable judgment issued on June 13.
In that ruling, the court urged Italy to revise its laws
mandating life sentences for certain very serious crimes, and
ruling out sentence reductions unless inmates turned informant.
Life terms subject the prisoner to inhuman and degrading
treatment, violating their dignity, the ECHR said.
The court ruling regarded Marcello Viola, found guilty of
mafia association, multiple murder and robbery, who has been in
jail since the start of the 1990s.
The ECHR sentence did not mean that Viola should be
released.
But Italy was ordered to pay him 6,000 euros in court costs.
Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said his ruling
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) "does not share in any
way the court's decision".
"Today the Strasbourg Court says that life imprisonment
'violates human rights' and that we should reform it.
"Are we joking? If you go hand in hand with the mafia, if you
destroy the lives of whole families and innocent people, you do
prison according to certain rules.
"No jail time off, no conditional liberty. You pay, full
stop.
"Here we are still grieving for our heroes, our victims, and
now we're supposed to think about safeguarding the rights of
their killers?"
Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede, also of the M5S, said "we
absolutely do not agree with the court's ruling".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
