Criminal lawyers to strike (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 9 - A union representing Italy's criminal lawyers said Monday that its members would strike for three days from May 24 to 26 to protest against the government's reform of the statute of limitations. "The reform does not shorten, but lengthens the time of the (trial) process," said the Unione delle Camere Penali. The union said the protest was also against the existing law on wiretaps as the "privacy" of the people whose conversations are recorded is not sufficiently protected. The strike is against "the slogan 'longer statute equals shorter trials, an oxymoron to cover the organisational deficiencies that lead more than 70% of trials to be timed out in the course of preliminary investigations". But above all, by lengthening the times of trials, the reform allegedly "breaches the presumption of innocence and right to a life of the defendants".