Security bill reduces rights - Council of Europe to La Russa

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 20 - Several articles of a security bill currently being examined by the Senate restrict rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly and members of the Italian Upper House should not vote it unless it is changed to abide by the human rights standards set by the Council of Europe, the body's commissioner for human rights, Michael O'Flaherty, has written in a letter to Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa.
    In the letter addressed to La Russa, Commissioner O'Flaherty asked members of the Senate to refrain from adopting the bill on public security, unless it is substantially amended to ensure that it complies with Council of Europe human rights standards, citing in particular six articles that "introduce crimes defined in vague terms and include other severe restrictions, creating space for an arbitrary and disproportionate implementation".
    The commissioner also said that the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, are a "cornerstone of democratic society", stating that member states have a "certain margin of appreciation for sanctioning intentional disruptions in the context of public assemblies" but "their discretion is not unlimited, as underlined by the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights".
    La Russa responded saying he had given "instructions to the Senate's offices to reject the unacceptable claim" made by Michael O'Flaherty to deliver to Senators the request not to vote the security bill, "which is actually still being examined by the appropriate commissions", calling the missive an "inadmissible interference in the autonomous and sovereign decisions of a parliamentary assembly". (ANSA).