A decision by the supreme Court of
Cassation to annul the life term of a man convicted of killing
his girlfriend during the early stages of the COVID-19 health
emergency because the sentence did not properly account for the
attenuating circumstances related to the pandemic has caused
bemusement across the Italian political spectrum.
The case regards the murder of Lorena Quaranta, a medical
student from Favara, in the province of Agrigento, in March
2020.
Her boyfriend, Calabrian nurse Antonio De Pace, confessed to
strangling her to death in a small villa in Furci Siculo, in the
province of Messina.
In an explanation of its decision, the supreme court said the
judges who gave the life term "did not examine whether the
specific nature of the situation, the COVID period and the
difficulty in remedying it, constituted factors affecting the
extent of criminal liability".
As a result, the supreme court sent the case back for the
sentence to be re-assessed.
Elisabetta Lancellotta, an MP for Premier Giorgia Meloni's
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, was among the politicians to
express astonishment.
"Sentences should be respected, but it is possible to not agree
with them, like the decision of the Court of Cassation to annul
the life sentence of the murderer of Lorena Quaranta because he
was stressed by the pandemic," Lancellotta said. "COVID cannot,
and must not, become a mitigating factor, especially for cases
of femicide.
"During the pandemic we witnessed a considerable increase in
domestic violence resulting in tragedy and today's violence
risks becoming a dangerous precedent. "Violence against women
cannot have mitigating circumstances, out of respect for the
victims and their loved ones".
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