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
- 697
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 697 news items on Italy, from 1998 to today.
Latest news
- MAY 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy's main aims as term president of the Council...
Italy's main aims as term president of the Council of Europe would be to strive for a "Europe free of the death penalty" and to promote human rights, the Italian Foreign Secretary Umberto Ranieri said
- MAY 23, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The (opposition) AN parliamentary group leader Gustavo...
The (opposition) AN parliamentary group leader Gustavo Selva invited the Italian government to take a firm stand condemning China's attitude to the death penalty
- MAY 5, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Senate Vice-President Ersilia Salvato discussed the...
Senate Vice-President Ersilia Salvato discussed the role of European parliaments in urging a moratorium on executions with representatives of the Portuguese, Austrian, Spanish and Belgian parliaments
- APRIL 29, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italian reggae group Africa Unite backed a campaign...
Italian reggae group Africa Unite backed a campaign to gather signatures in favour of a global moratorium on the death penalty by the end of 2000
- APRIL 26, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy co-sponsored and voted in favour of the resolution...
Italy co-sponsored and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission for Human Rights on April 26, 2000
- APRIL 26, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The UN Human Rights Commission approved a resolution...
The UN Human Rights Commission approved a resolution in favour of a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment proposed by the EU term president Portugal
- APRIL 11, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Tuscan MPs Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni visited...
The Tuscan MPs Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni visited death row inmate Rocco Derek Barnabei in Virginia
- APRIL 10, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Socialist International appointed the leader of...
The Socialist International appointed the leader of the Democratici di Sinistra (democratic left party, DS) Walter Veltroni, to head the campaign against the death penalty
- APRIL 5, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Government and opposition senators handed an appeal...
Government and opposition senators handed an appeal to the Iranian president Mohammed Khatami not to impose the death penalty on 13 Iranian Jews on trial on charges of spying for Israel in Teheran
- MARCH 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato,...
The Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato, discussed the abolition of the death penalty with the newly-elected president of the French National Assembly Raymond Forni
- MARCH 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Chamber of Deputies approved unanimously a motion...
The Chamber of Deputies approved unanimously a motion that bound the government to steer the EU to present a new resolution for the abolition of the death penalty at the Commission for Human Rights
- MARCH 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Senate approved a motion by its Vice-President...
The Senate approved a motion by its Vice-President Ersilia Salvato urging the government to steer the EU towards proposing a new resolution on the death penalty at the UN Commission for Human Rights
- MARCH 16, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
CCD chairman Pier Ferdinando Casini met a delegation...
CCD chairman Pier Ferdinando Casini met a delegation of Cuban anti-Castro exiles
- FEBRUARY 23, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Twenty four lady senators from different Italian political...
Twenty four lady senators from different Italian political formations invited New York senatorial candidate Hilary Clinton to rethink her stand in favour of the death penalty
- FEBRUARY 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Benetton group said it would continue its advertising...
The Benetton group said it would continue its advertising campaign featuring death row convicts despite the American store chain Sears' decision to take the Benetton brand off its shelves
- FEBRUARY 10, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Liga Veneta (northern autonomist party) senator Antonio...
Liga Veneta (northern autonomist party) senator Antonio Serena tabled a parliamentary question to the Prime Minister probing the ethics of having photographs of American death row prisoners plastered on billboards all over Italian cities
- FEBRUARY 9, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit in Circuit...
Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court, accusing the Italian clothing company Benetton and Gonzaga University law professor Speedy Rice of deceiving the state in their use of inmates at Potosi Correctional Center
- FEBRUARY 9, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit...
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court, accusing the Italian clothing company Benetton and Gonzaga University law professor Speedy Rice of deceiving the state in their use of inmates at the Potosi Correctional Centre
- JANUARY 13, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Government coalition member Rinnovamento Italiano senator...
Government coalition member Rinnovamento Italiano senator Ombretta Fumagalli Carulli said the Ankara government's decision to postpone the execution of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan presented a good opportunity to request a moratorium on all death senten
- JANUARY 12, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini welcomed the decision...
Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini welcomed the decision of the Turkish coalition government to postpone Kurdistan Worker's Party leader Abdullah Ocalan's execution following a request by the European Court of Human Rights
- JANUARY 7, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani launched...
The Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani launched in New York the new Benetton (fashion wear) campaign for death penalty awareness
- JANUARY 1, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On December 12, 1999, Hands off Cain, together with...
On December 12, 1999, Hands off Cain, together with Amnesty International and the St Egidio Community, inaugurated the initiative "The Coliseum Illuminates Life"
- JANUARY 1, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death...
The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes
- DECEMBER 12, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On December 12, the initiative "The Coliseum illuminates...
On December 12, the initiative "The Coliseum illuminates life" was inaugurated
- DECEMBER 11, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On December 11, after the European Union had accepted...
On December 11, after the European Union had accepted Turkey's application for membership, and in reply to those who asked him if the granting of candidate status to Ankara would have blocked Abdullah Ocalan's execution, Italian President of the European
- DECEMBER 1, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
In December, Rocco's mother Jane Barnabei, came to...
In December, Rocco's mother Jane Barnabei, came to Italy to try and raise the money to cover the cost of new DNA tests
- NOVEMBER 24, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On November 24, following the European Union's decision...
On November 24, following the European Union's decision not to put the resolution presented at the UN General Assembly to the vote, the Italian Senate unanimously approved a motion, first signatory Ersilia Salvato, engaging the Government to take action w
- NOVEMBER 3, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On November 3, Ambassador of Singapore Kishore Mahbubani,...
On November 3, Ambassador of Singapore Kishore Mahbubani, referring to this initiative at the Third Committe of the General Assembly, said, "We are puzzled to read that a decision has been taken by the UN to make the Coliseum in Rome a symbol of the cause
- SEPTEMBER 30, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
On September 30, the Rome Court of Appeal upheld the...
On September 30, the Rome Court of Appeal upheld the request for extradition presented by the authorities of the People's Republic of China with regard to Song Zhicai, a Chinese citizen arrested in Italy on November 6, 1998, with a international warrant i
- APRIL 28, 1999ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy was a cosponsor and voted in favor of the resolution...
Italy was a cosponsor and voted in favor of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 28 (1999/61)