Opposition attacks new anti-vote-buying law

(ANSA) - Rome, August 29 - 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.