Italy
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1998
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- NOVEMBER 12, 1998 · On 12 November 1998, Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan,...
- News items in the archive
- 712
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Italy is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 712 news items on Italy, from 1998 to today.
Italy abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in the Constitution of 1948, removed it from the military penal code of war in 1994 and, in 2007, amended article 27 of the Constitution to delete the last reference to it. Since then it has supported a universal moratorium in international forums.
The Italian news in this archive concerns above all the association's other front: conditions inside places of detention, meaning overcrowding, suicides, access to care, life imprisonment without parole and alternative measures, together with the prison visits the association carries out and publishes reports on.
Latest news
- FEBRUARY 22, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy's professional football association organised...
Italy's professional football association organised a protest over plans in Nigeria to stone a woman to death
- FEBRUARY 20, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands off Cain, the Italian Radicals and other associations...
Hands off Cain, the Italian Radicals and other associations demonstrated in protest as Syrian dictator Bashar Assad met Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni and demanded that Italian authorities make human rights in Syria the focus of bilateral talks
- FEBRUARY 19, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo hinted that a...
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo hinted that a woman sentenced to death for having sex outside of marriage would win a reprieve, saying the outcome of her appeal would "gladden hearts"
- FEBRUARY 14, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
A theatrical work on Andrei Chikatilo entitled "The...
A theatrical work on Andrei Chikatilo entitled "The Monster Of Rostov- I did it for love" was launched at the Radio Rai head office
- FEBRUARY 6, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italian Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo...
Italian Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said the time had come for the European Union to stop women being stoned to death in some Arab countries
- JANUARY 17, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain and 30 Falun Gong practitioners from...
Hands Off Cain and 30 Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan demonstrated ion front of the Chinese embassy in Rome in protest against repression by the Chinese authorities of the spiritual movement, and the death sentences handed out to two Christians
- JANUARY 17, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain and 30 Falun Gong practitioners from...
Hands Off Cain and 30 Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan demonstrated ion front of the Chinese embassy in Rome in protest against repression by the Chinese authorities of the spiritual movement, and the death sentences handed out to two Christians
- JANUARY 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain adhered to the demonstration for Safiya...
Hands Off Cain adhered to the demonstration for Safiya Husseini, a Nigerian woman condemned to death by stoning for adultery by an Islamic court, organised by the Rai Radio programme Zapping, presented by Aldo Forbice
- JANUARY 9, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Senator Natale D'Amico, vice-president of the left...
Senator Natale D'Amico, vice-president of the left wing Margherita party, tabled two parliamentary motions requesting the intervention of the Italian government in two death penalty cases
- JANUARY 1, 2002ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death...
The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes
- DECEMBER 26, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Some 3,000 people held a vigil at the Nigerian Embassy...
Some 3,000 people held a vigil at the Nigerian Embassy in Rome to call on the West African government spare the life of a woman due to be stoned to death under sharia law
- DECEMBER 12, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
A leading member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's...
A leading member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party lobbied the government to intervene with a Nigerian Muslim state to spare the life of a woman due to be stoned to death under Sharia law
- NOVEMBER 27, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
A week of activities to commemorate the abolition of...
A week of activities to commemorate the abolition of the death penalty in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany kicked off in Florence
- NOVEMBER 21, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Etim Okpoyo, Nigerian Ambassador to Rome, assured Hands...
Etim Okpoyo, Nigerian Ambassador to Rome, assured Hands Off Cain that the Federal Government will not allow Safiya Hussaini to be stoned to death
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
About 200 Falun Gong practitioners converged on Rome...
About 200 Falun Gong practitioners converged on Rome from all over the world for an SOS Falun Gong day
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
MTV Italy adhered to Hands Off Cain's online campaign...
MTV Italy adhered to Hands Off Cain's online campaign for an international moratorium on executions through a UN resolution
- AUGUST 18, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives...
The Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives Alfredo Biondi (Forza Italia) said he will be presenting a parliamentary question to the Interior Minister to denounce the behaviour of Chinese diplomats, who had been carrying out repressive activities
- AUGUST 13, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Ruling right-wing party MP Alfredo Biondi said he would...
Ruling right-wing party MP Alfredo Biondi said he would address a parliamentary interrogation to the Foreign Minister regarding the initiatives the government intends to take towards the release of the eight western aid-workers arrested in Afghanistan on
- AUGUST 10, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain staged a demonstration in front of the...
Hands Off Cain staged a demonstration in front of the Belgian Embassy in Rome, calling for European intervention in favour of 24 aid-workers arrested in Afghanistan on charges of proselytising in favour of Chistianity
- AUGUST 2, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
New death sentences in Palestina, prompted a protest...
New death sentences in Palestina, prompted a protest by Hands Off Cain in Rome, as Arafat visited Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
- AUGUST 2, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Italian Senate approved with unanimous votes the...
The Italian Senate approved with unanimous votes the motion which establishes, for the first time in the history of the Italian Parliament, a special commission for the promotion of human rights
- JULY 26, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo...
The deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Biondi and MP Fabrizio Vigni presented the group of deputies against the death penalty to the Chamber
- JULY 24, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
At the informative session in Rome for non-governmental...
At the informative session in Rome for non-governmental organisations in preparation for the World Conference against Racism, Italian NGOs supported Hands Off Cain's proposal for a global moratorium on executions through a UN resolution
- JUNE 18, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain launched its 2001 Reporton the death penalty
Hands Off Cain launched its 2001 Reporton the death penalty
- JUNE 16, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Vasco Rossi, an Italian rock star dedicated its summer...
Vasco Rossi, an Italian rock star dedicated its summer tour to Hands off Cain
- JUNE 11, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain militants protested against McVeigh's...
Hands Off Cain militants protested against McVeigh's and Garza's execution in front of the American embassy in Rome
- MAY 18, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
During a press conference entitled "China: not only...
During a press conference entitled "China: not only death penalty" organized by Hands off Cain, Erping Zhang, international spokesman for Falun Gong, denounced the abuses against the movement by the Chinese government, which banned Falun Gong from China i
- APRIL 25, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Lipsipo (Free Police Syndicate) invoked the death penalty...
Lipsipo (Free Police Syndicate) invoked the death penalty for those caught following the murder of an entrepeneur in Turin
- APRIL 25, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution...
Italy was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 25, 2001
- APRIL 23, 2001ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Regarding the decision made by the directors of three...
Regarding the decision made by the directors of three daily newspapers "il Giorno", "La Nazione" and "il Resto del Carlino" to have as their headlines "Death Penaly, yes, yes, yes" in relevance to some of the stances taken following the murder of Sara Ja