Italy's supreme Cassation Court
has ordered the retrial of a politician on charges of
vote-buying based on a new law that raises the evidence
threshold in such cases, sparking an outcry from opponents of
the measure on Friday.
Under the new norm approved in April, the crime of
vote-buying now encompasses the exchange not only of money but
also of other kinds of favors in return for votes.
As well, the new law says prosecutors must prove that the
defendant "agreed to benefit from Mafia methods of coercion and
intimidation" of voters, setting the punishment at 4-10 years in
prison.
The Cassation Court ordered a retrial of Antonio Antinoro,
a Sicilian politician from the small centrist Catholic UDC
party, who is accused of meeting with a Palermo mafia clan to
secure a vote-buying deal ahead of the 2008 elections.
"The new norm favors the defendant, and makes behavior that
was sanctioned under the previous law irrelevant," criticized
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) Senator Mario
Giarrusso, who sits on the anti-mafia committee.
"We were right. This norm is a disaster," said the Senator.
"We abstained (from voting on the bill in April) because we
feared it would set off some kind of perverse mechanism, which
it did," added Northern League Senator and anti-mafia commission
member Nunziante Consiglio.
"The M5S opposed our bill, but their only objection was
that the punishment wasn't severe enough," said rapporteur
Davide Mattiello, who is from the ruling Democratic Party (PD)
and who also sits on the Senate anti-mafia committee.
"The text was written after consultation with anti-mafia
prosecutors and NGOs fighting organized crime. They all said
this law is a vast improvement on the one before," said Senator
Claudio Fava, who is from the mixed caucus and the deputy chair
of the anti-mafia committee.
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