Italy - September 2024

On 18 September, the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Parliament) approved a security bill that introduces changes to the penal code. If passed, it will create up to 20 new offences and increase prison sentences. It would criminalize passive resistance, non-violent road blockages, and resisting police in prison or migrant centers. Penalties for property damage during violent protests would also increase. Off-duty police officers would be allowed to carry weapons without a license and wider surveillance in prisons and detention centers would be introduced. Pregnant women and women with children under one year old would no longer be exempt from prison. The bill has drawn strong criticism from the opposition, activists (especially from environmental and labour rights groups), civil society, and the judiciary, with one prosecutor warning it could return Italy to authoritarian-era criminal laws. The bill requires Senate approval as a next step. 

Sources: il Post, Giurisprudenza Penale (1), Giurisprudenza Penale (2),  Giurisprudenza Penale (3), El Pais, Politico