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Italy makes ‘revenge porn’ a crime

Italian MPs unanimously approved a new law on Tuesday criminalizing the unsolicited sharing of compromising erotic pictures or video, known as "revenge porn".

Published: 3 April 2019 09:19 CEST

Italy makes 'revenge porn' a crime

In Italy, sharing compromising pictures is now punishable by up to six years in jail. File photo: Jung Jeon-Je/AFP

The offence will be punishable by between one and six years in jail, and fines of up to €15,000.

The proposal was put forward by the rightwing opposition party Forza Italia of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. It is part of a reform bill dubbed “Code Red”, which aims to give greater protection to victims of violence and stalking.

READ ALSO: Italy considers harsher sentences for attacks on women

Italy's ruling populist coalition — made up of the hard-right League party and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) — had largely rejected the revenge porn proposal last Thursday, arguing it wanted a special law targeting the issue rather than making it part of the “code red” reform.

The move had sparked anger in the assembly and the discussion of the text had to be postponed after opposition members both from the left and right staged a protest.

Discussions were relaunched on Tuesday and the amendments eventually approved by all political sides.

READ ALSO: Italy just made it easier to claim self-defence if you hurt or kill an intruder

“Reason has won. If we voted yes today, it was solely thanks to the protest of opposition parties,” Forza Italia lawmaker Mara Carfagna said following the vote.

Meanwhile, the League party was forced to drop a suggested change seeking the voluntary chemical castration of sexual violence perpetrators after the M5S fiercely opposed the proposal.

Under the proposal, a person found guilty of sexual violence could have opted for reversible medical castration instead of going to jail.

READ ALSO: Italy's Salvini calls for chemical castration for alleged rapists of American au pair

Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

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President of Italy's Liguria region resigns after arrest over corruption probe

Giovanni Toti, 55, has been under house arrest since May as part of an investigation that has also implicated nine others, including the former head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in the country.

Contacted by AFP, a regional civil servant confirmed media reports of Toti’s resignation, who had been suspended from his post since his arrest.

Toti, a former member of the European Parliament elected as Liguria’s president in 2015 and again in 2020, has said he is innocent of accusations of bribe-taking.

Prosecutors allege he accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from two prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included efforts to privatise a public beach and speeding up the 30-year lease renewal for a Genoa port terminal for a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

READ ALSO: Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Toti is a former journalist who was close to late PM Silvio Berlusconi. He is no longer aligned with a party but was backed by a right-wing coalition in the last election.

In a resignation letter published on the RaiNews website, Toti did not mention the accusations against him but instead listed his accomplishments as president and thanked his supporters.

“After three months of house arrest and the subsequent suspension from the office that voters have entrusted to me twice, I have decided that the time has come to tender my irrevocable resignation,” Toti wrote, according to RaiNews.

“I leave a region in order.”

Toti had more than a year remaining in his tenure as regional president. Under Italian law, new elections will have to be called within three months.

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