European Parliament removes MEP Borghezio's immunity

(ANSA) - Strasbourg, October 25 - The European Parliament on Tuesday lifted immunity from prosecution from Northern League MEP Mario Borghezio due to his April 29, 2013 attacks on then Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge during an interview on Radio24. Borghezio said the move was a political one.
    "This parliament has handed over to the justice system an MEP guilty only of making statements that were disliked by most" of the assembly, he said immediately after the plenary session. In April 2016, Borghezio was ordered to stand trial by a Milan court on charges of spreading "ideas based on racial and ethnic hatred". Cecile Kyenge, who is now also a member of the European Parliament, said that "racism can never be a tool of political struggle. Those who make use of it disgrace the institutions and do not have the right to any immunity." "A member of the European Parliament," she added in a statement, "who shows scorn and hatred on the basis of my skin color did not offend only me, but also the values of European institutions and all those who do not" discriminate on the basis of race, religion or gender.