Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Italy’s murder rate hits 40-year low

Italy’s murder rate hit a 40-year low last year with 526 homicides recorded in 2012, a report released on Thursday has found.

Published: 11 July 2013 16:55 CEST
Italy's murder rate hits 40-year low
Photo: Swift Benjamin/Flickr

The Murder in Italy 2013 report by news agency ANSA and EURES, an economic social and research organization, said that the numbers were continuing to decline this year with 226 murders recorded in the first half of 2013.

The centre of Italy saw the greatest reduction with 13.1 percent fewer murders, while the north experienced a 7.9 percent decrease and the south saw a slight rise of 0.4 percent.

Overall, the south accounted for 53 percent of all murders in Italy last year, with the region of Campania seeing the most violence with 90 homicides.

The number of murders within families dropped by more than 10 percent from 2011.

Italy compares well to other EU countries, the report said, with one murder for every 100,000 inhabitants compared to the average of 1.9.

Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world; in 2011 the UN recorded 91.6 homicides per 100,000.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

The president of Italy's northwest Liguria region and the ex-head of Genoa's port were among 10 arrested on Tuesday in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation which also targeted officials for alleged mafia ties.

Published: 7 May 2024 12:52 CEST
Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

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

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

SHOW COMMENTS