High court quashes Contrada damages verdict

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 21 - The supreme Court of Cassation on Thursday overturned a Palermo appeals court ruling awarding former spy Bruno Contrada 670,000 euros in damages for unjust detention over a mafia conviction.
    The appeals court was ordered to re-examine the damages suit brought by Contrada, 89, former number 2 at domestic intelligence service SISDE (now AISI), over a 10-year sentence for mafia association, all of which he did not serve because of an acquittal on appeal.
    Ex-palermo police chief Contrada was found guilty of tipping off Cosa Nostra bosses including the late Totò 'The Beast' Riina about police operations against them.
    In 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Contrada was convicted for acts that at that time were not a crime, in violation of the principle of non-retroactivity of criminal law.
    The Palermo appeals court awarded him the 670,000 euros in April last year. (ANSA).