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
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
MORATORIUM. EP URGES COUNCIL TO PRESENT A RESOLUTION TO THE UN
MEPs called on the Council to present a resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty to the 62nd UN General Assembly, in order to adopt it before the end of the year.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYPOLAND. HOC AT THE ROUND TABLE ON DEATH PENALTY IN CENTRAL ASIA
Antonio Stango, member of the Board of Hands Off Cain,
SEPTEMBER 25, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYITALY. SENATE VOTES TO ABOLISH LAST REFERENCE TO DEATH PENALTY IN COSTITUTION
The Italian Senate voted to abolish the last reference to capital punishment
SEPTEMBER 25, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYITALY TO PUSH UN FOR WORLDWIDE MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY
Italy's premier called for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty with a
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. PRODI: ITALY LEADING ON MORATORIUM
“Italy is in the lead and has moved in a very strong way to achieve the Universal Moratorium on the death penalty, in full agreement with the EU Portuguese presidency,” Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY. PRODI CALLS ON LAUREATES TO BACK GLOBAL MORATORIUM
Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, is hoping Nobel Peace Prize winners will
SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY. D'ALEMA: WE NEED EU UNITY ON MORATORIUM
according to the Italian Foreign Affairs Minister, Massimo D'Alema, the key for getting
SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYMORATORIUM. BONINO: THEY DON’T LACK NUMBERS, THEY LACK COURAGE
in Brussels, Emma Bonino, the minister for International Trade and European Affairs, expressed “deep concern” over the management of Europe's initiative at the UN against the death penalty by the current Portuguese Presidency of the EU, criticising their
SEPTEMBER 16, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYMORATORIUM. RADICALS RESTART INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE
The Transnational and Transparty Non Violent Radical Party issued a statement regarding the indefinite hunger strike of its members.
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
ITALY: D'ALEMA AND EC VICE PRESIDENT: POLAND SENDING AN “UGLY SIGNAL”
Franco Frattini, the vice president of the European Commission...
SEPTEMBER 11, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYMORATORIUM. D’ELIA (RNP), NON VIOLENT CONTINUES STRUGGLE SO THAT WORDS BECOME FACTS
“It was fortunate that Parliament gathered to be informed on the status of the initiative for the UN Moratorium,” announced Sergio D’Elia, Rosa nel Pugno Radical Parliamentarian and Secretary of Hands Off Cain.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYMORATORIUM. VERNETTI: RESOLUTION PRESENTATION TO UN SEPTEMBER 25
in a message to both Parliament and the Senate Foreign
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2007PortugalDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. PRODI, PORTUGUESE PREMIER DISCUSS MORATORIUM
Italian Premier Romano Prodi phoned Portuguese counterpart Jose' Socrates to discuss
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
NIGERIAN CATHOLIC SEEKS ASYLUM IN ITALY TO ESCAPE DEATH SENTENCE
a Nigerian Catholic man who fled his native land to escape execution has appealed to the Italian government to allow him to remain there, the AKI news service reports.
- AUGUST 30, 2007RwandaDEATH PENALTY
HANDS OFF CAIN TO HONOUR KAGAME ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Hands Off Cain awarded the Rwandan President Paul Kagame with the "The Abolitionist of the Year 2007" Award for scrapping capital punishment from the criminal laws of the country, RNA reports. The prize was awarded through Italian Prime Minister Romano Pr
AUGUST 30, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY. HANDS OFF CAIN PRESENT 2007 REPORT
it is only a few weeks from the presentation of a resolution on the Universal Moratorium on Capital Punishment at the UN General Assembly by the European Union, an initiative that was inspired by Italy, Hands Off Cain has released its 2007 Report on Capit
AUGUST 30, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY. KAGAME, RWANDA COSPONSOR UN MORATORIUM RESOLUTION
at the presentation of the 2007 Hands Off Cain Report on the death penalty, Paul Kagame
AUGUST 30, 2007RwandaDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY: PRODI EXPRESSES HOPE FOR THE MORATORIUM AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE HOC REPORT
Prime Minister Romano Prodi attended the ceremony for the presentation of the 2007
- AUGUST 6, 2007IranDEATH PENALTY
ITALY. PRODI DEFENDS CRITICISM OF IRANIAN EXECUTIONS
Premier Romano Prodi defended Italy’s opposition to the death penalty after Rome's criticism of Iran’s use of capital punishment escalated into a diplomatic fight.
- AUGUST 2, 2007IranDEATH PENALTY
ITALY. CONCERN OVER EXECUTIONS IN IRAN
Italy voiced its "deep concern" over the recent executions in Iran and asked Tehran to suspend the death penalty handed down against two Iranian-Kurdish journalists.
- JULY 25, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
MORATORIUM. D'ALEMA, CONSENSUS BY AT LEAST THE 27 EU COUNTRIES
“The moratorium looks like being a success. I would like a united front, without
- JULY 11, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. HANDS OFF CAIN: THE EU MUST NOT YIELD TO LIBYAN BLACKMAIL
the directors of Hands Off Cain, Sergio D'Elia, secretary of the association and Rosa Nel
JULY 10, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYMORATORIUM. D’ALEMA THANKS SOUTH AFRICA FOR SUPPORT
Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Massimo D'Alema publicly thanked his South African colleague Nkosazama Dlamini Zuma for the African country’s support for the proposed UN Moratorium against capital punishment.
- JULY 9, 2007BrazilDEATH PENALTY
MORATORIUM. D’ALEMA THANKS LULA FOR CO-SPONSORING THE RESOLUTION
'We thank the Brazilian Government of President Lula for its decision to be a co-sponsor of the resolution for the Moratorium on capital punishment that the EU intends
- JUNE 26, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. EUROPEAN COUNCIL SUPPORTS MORATORIUM
the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, meeting
- JUNE 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
ITALY HAILS EU DECISION ON DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM
Breaking the hesitations and faltering of the past, the Council of EU Foreign Ministers
JUNE 18, 2007MoroccoDEATH PENALTYMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN MOROCCO FOR MURDER OF EU DIPLOMAT
a Moroccan appeals court upheld the death sentence of a 25 year old man convicted of murdering an Italian
- JUNE 18, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT DEFEATED
Marco Pannella, Sergio D'Elia, Lucio Bertè, Valter Vecellio, Claudia Sterzi, Guido Biancardi, Michele Rana, all on a indefinite hunger strike since April 16, issued the following statement. "If the news from Luxembourg on the outcome of the EU Council of
JUNE 15, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTYDEATH PENALTY. EXTRAORDINARY PARTICIPATION FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
52 Nobel Prizes have already joined the Transnational Radical Party and Hand
- JUNE 14, 2007ItalyDEATH PENALTY
DEATH PENALTY. FOREIGN AFFAIR COMMITEE URGES GOVERNMENT TO PROCEED
today the committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved a resolution