Hands Off Cain

ABOUT US

Since 1993, the life of rights for the right to life.

Nessuno tocchi Caino — Hands Off Cain — is a radical, non-violent, non-profit association. We fight for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, against deaths in prison, against preventive measures applied without trial. We are members of the Council of Europe and the UN.

chi-siamo-pages منذ 1993، **حياة الحق من أجل الحق في الحياة**.

ABOUT US

Justice, not vengeance.

The name comes from Genesis: «The Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who met him would strike him down». Nessuno tocchi Caino means justice without vengeance. We are an international league of citizens and parliamentarians for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, founded in Brussels in 1993. Our goal is a universal moratorium on executions established by the United Nations: the path of dialogue, not abolition by decree.

1993
FOUNDED IN BRUSSELS
98%
EXECUTIONS IN AUTHORITARIAN COUNTRIES
117
COUNTRIES IN FAVOUR · UN MORATORIUM 2016

WHAT WE DO

01 — DEATH PENALTY

Toward the end of the Cain-State

We must move forward, beyond the death penalty, freeing first of all ourselves and clearing the field of the mental and structural apparatus of judgment: investigations and tribunals, sentences and punishments, prosecutors and judges, jailers and executioners.

02 — DEATH BY PUNISHMENT

Toward the end of punishment

Prisons are not only places of deprivation of liberty. Because what is missing are the fundamental senses and the most meaningful human contacts. The punishment is corporal, the harm is existential, the suffering is grave for everyone, not only for the detained, but also for those who detain.

03 — WHEN PREVENTING IS WORSE than punishing

Enough with the witch-hunt

In the name of the war on the mafia, summary trials and medieval punishments — such as seizures and confiscations of assets, prefectural bans, the dissolution of municipalities — have been added to, and often preferred over, contemporary trials and criminal penalties.

OUR STORY

Thirty-three years of battles.

  1. 1993

    Nessuno tocchi Caino is born as a league of citizens and parliamentarians, on the initiative of the Radical Party.

  2. 1994

    First UN campaign for a universal moratorium on executions.

  3. 2007

    The UN General Assembly approves the moratorium resolution for the first time.

  4. 2011

    Launch of the programme of systematic visits to Italian prisons: "Death by punishment" is born.

  5. 2018

    Campaign "When preventing is worse than punishing" against ante delictum preventive measures.

  6. 2020

    The Banca Dati annual report distributed in 14 languages to diplomats and parliamentarians.

  7. 2026

    112 countries abolitionist in fact or in law. The battle continues.

HONORARY PRESIDENCY

  • Santi Consolo
  • Vincenzo Maiello
  • Tullio Padovani
  • Andrea Saccucci

TEAM AND BODIES

Who carries the battle forward.

Rita Bernardini

President

Rita Bernardini

Since 1993. Former parliamentarian. UN missions in Geneva, New York, Tokyo.

Sergio D'Elia

Secretary

Sergio D'Elia

Journalist and activist. Podcast The Sign of Cain.

Elisabetta Zamparutti

Treasurer

Elisabetta Zamparutti

Coordinator of the Database. Responsible for the annual report.

Alberto Genovese

Fundraising

Alberto Genovese

Entrepreneur

STEERING COMMITTEE

  • Porzia Addabbo
  • Gianni Alemanno
  • Matteo Angioli
  • Massimo Arlechino
  • Umberto Baccolo
  • Vito Baglio
  • Elena Baldi
  • Sandro Barchiesi
  • Marco Beltrandi
  • Padre Guido Bertagna
  • Domenico Bilotti
  • Salvatore Bonadonna
  • Anna Briganti
  • Pasquale Bronzo
  • Maria Brucale
  • Antonio Buonfiglio
  • Cesare Burdese
  • Santo Cambareri
  • Federico Canziani
  • Pietro Cavallotti
  • Federico Celano
  • Paolo Cesari
  • Marco Clarke
  • Antonio Coniglio
  • Claudio Conte
  • Raffaele Conte
  • Donatella Corleo
  • Fabrizio Costarella
  • Ambrogio Crespi
  • Andrea Cuzzocrea
  • Tonino D'Angelo
  • Vincent Delbos
  • Nino Di Guardo
  • Vincenzo Di Paolo
  • Gianpietro Doni
  • Luca Doniselli
  • Andreana Esposito
  • Fabio Falbo
  • Corrado Favara
  • Ester Ferdeghini
  • Maria Chiara Gadda
  • Davide Galliani
  • Salvatore Galluzzo
  • Bruno Gambardella
  • Alessandro Gargiulo
  • Roberto Giachetti
  • Carmen Gualtieri
  • Norberto Guerriero
  • Vincenzo Improta
  • Paolo Ingrao
  • Giuseppe La Gala
  • Baldassare Lauria
  • Gianluca Liut
  • Renzo Magosso
  • Tiziana Maiolo
  • Francesca Mambro
  • Silvja Manzi
  • Enrico Marignani
  • Antonella Mascia
  • Diego Mazzola
  • Bruno Mellano
  • Esmail Mohades
  • Nicla Moiraghi
  • Francesco Morelli
  • Davide Mosso
  • Giuseppe Napoli
  • Andrea Nicolosi
  • Cosimo Palumbo
  • Orazio Paolello
  • Mauro Paolinelli
  • Patrizia Patrizi
  • Stefano Petrella
  • Maria Teresa Pintus
  • Maurizio Pistorio
  • Bianca Piscolla
  • Renata Polverini
  • Andrea Pugiotto
  • Gaetano Puzzangaro
  • Elisabetta Rampelli
  • Roberto Rampi
  • Sabrina Renna
  • Angelo Riccardi
  • Giorgia Ricci
  • Mimmo Risica
  • Fulvio Rizzo
  • Thomas Roeth
  • Alessandro Rosasco
  • Carla Rossi
  • Mara Rossi
  • Giuseppe Rossodivita
  • Blanca Ruiz-Zorrilla
  • don Vincenzo Russo
  • Marco Scurria
  • Emiliano Silvestri
  • Sonia Sommacal
  • Marco Sorbara
  • Raffaella Stacciarini
  • Guglielmo Starace
  • Lorenzo Strik-Lievers
  • Giovanni Terzi
  • Azalen Tomaselli
  • Michele Vaira
  • Clara Veneto
  • Simona Ventura
  • Matteo Zamboni
  • Pierdonato Zito

TEN YEARS LATER · 19 MAY 2016—2026

Marco Pannella, the founder.

Tenth anniversary of the death of Marco Pannella, the founder. A life made of hunger strikes, sit-ins, non-violent battles for human rights, the abolition of the death penalty, the justice that does not punish but repairs. Our battle continues because he taught it to us.

chi-siamo-pages ماركو بانيلا، المؤسِّس.

«The death penalty is not justice. It is vengeance organised by the State. It is the proof that the State surrenders to hatred.»

— MARCO PANNELLA, 1993