The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death...

The Constitution approved in 1948 abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes. The death penalty was abolished from the Military Codes in October 1994. The last execution took place on March 4, 1947, in Turin, where three men from Villarbasse, Giovanni D'Ignoti, Giovanni Puleo and Francesco La Barbero, where shot at a rifle range just outside the city. The three men were condemned to death by the Turin Court of Assizes on July 5, 1946 (the last death sentence handed down in Italy) for clubbing to death ten people and throwing their bodies down a well while committing a robbery at the farm where they lived, which netted the accused 45,000 Lire each. Italy has played a fundamental role in promoting internationally the initiative for a global moratorium on executions since 1994 when it raised the question at the UN General Assembly for the first time, presenting an apposite resolution. The fact that this resolution for a global moratorium on executions was defeated by only eight votes, led Italy to present a similar text at the UN Commission on Human Rights, where it was approved three years running. In 1997 and 1998 the resolution was presented at the Commission directly by the Italian Government and approved by a large majority; while in 1999, to further strengthen the initiative and as expressly indicated by the Italian Senate (July 16, 1998), Italy decided to place the resolution in the hands of the European Union which was to present it first at the UN Commission on Human Rights and, subsequently, at the General Assembly. On April 28 1999, the German EU Presidency presented the resolution for a global moratorium on executions at the Commission, where it was approved by an absolute majority (30 votes in favor, 11 against and 12 abstentions) and with a record number of 72 countries cosponsoring the initiative (as against 46 in 1997 and 65 in 1998).