Italy condemned twice in one week by the European Court of Human Rights

In Cestaro v Italy ( 7 April 2015) the European Court of Human Rights held that the ill-treatment sustained by the applicant when the police stormed the Diaz-Pertini school amounted to “torture” within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention.  This refers to the events which occurred at the end of the G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. In a school made available by the municipal authorities to be used as a night shelter by demonstrators the anti-riot police unit entered the building around midnight to carry out a search, leading to acts of violence.  The Court added that there is inadequate criminal legislation concerning the punishment of acts of torture in Italy. For an account of the history of this case see Jurist.

In the case Contrada v. Italy (no 3) of 14 April 2015 the Court ruled that criminal law may not be applied retroactively and that the offences for which the applicant had been convicted were not considered a criminal offence at the time they were committed (art. 7 of the Convention). The ex-official of the Sisde (Italian intelligence agency) had been condemned for 10 years of imprisonment because of supposed involvement with the mafia and had served his time in prison.

The EUI library has extensive holdings on the European Court of Human Rights case law which can be found on the shelves in the Law collection at LAW Dkdg9.