Giustizia: i komunisti del Dipartimento di Stato americano. Berlusconi andrà
alla CNN per denunciare l'ennesimo complotto ai suoi danni?


di Gualtiero Vecellio

Vatti a fidare degli amici. Che cosa ti combina il Dipartimento di Stato
americano, il caro amico George insomma? Pubblica il suo annuale rapporto
sulla situazione dei diritti umani, e all'Italia del Dear Friend Silvio
dedica 22 pagine. Si parla di diritti violati, di carceri sovraffollate, di
abusi su minori, di giustizia intollerabilmente lenta, e chi ne trae
benefici sostanziali? Proprio lui, l' "amico" Silvio; emergenza giustizia,
insomma; giustizia di classe.



Nel rapporto si parla di processi lenti, di carceri antiquate e
sovraffollate. Si sottolineano i "vantaggi giudiziari che il presidente del
Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi ha tratto dai tempi lenti della giustizia". Nel
rapporto si denuncia il sovraffollamento nelle carceri, la lunghezza
esasperante della carcerazione preventiva, la logorante durata dei processi.



"I difensori spesso sfruttano la lentezza per ritardare i processi tra
ricorsi e appelli. A maggio, ad esempio, la Corte ha fatto cadere, per
prescrizione, l'accusa di corruzione contro il primo ministro Berlusconi
relativa a fatti accaduti nei primi anni Novanta sull'acquisto di una grande
casa editrice. In un altro processo il primo ministro Berlusconi è stato
accusato perché una delle sue società, la Fininvest, era coinvolta in
operazioni di falso in bilancio tra il 1989 e il 1995: in questo caso la
Corte ha deciso che il caso era stato depenalizzato.nel 1001 infatti il
governo Berlusconi ha approvato una nuova legge su questo reato". Si citano
poi, quali casi di vantaggi derivati dal lento ritmo della giustizia anche
il processo all'ex ministro della Difesa Cesare Previti per cui la
Cassazione deciderà il 19 aprile.



Giustizia di classe, insomma: chi può disporre di buoni avvocati, può
beneficiare di quella amnistia strisciante e continua che si chiama
prescrizione; per chi si troverà perseguitato perché trovato in tasca di una
decina di spinelli non resta che confidare in don Gelmini.



Sotto accusa per le carceri sovraffollate, e si rimarca il dato: 42.500
posti di capienza; 59.100 detenuti. E poi i 91 detenuti morti, 51 dei quali
suicidi accertati. Sotto accusa anche i Centri di prima accoglienza per gli
immigrati clandestini, "anch'essi sovraffollati".



Questi komunisti di americani!

DOCUMENTO: IL CAPITOLO CHE IL RAPPORTO 2005 DEL DIPARTIMENTO DI STATO
AMERICANO DEDICA ALL'ITALIA.
Italy
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 8, 2006

Italy is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a population of
approximately 57.8 million. National parliamentary elections (which
determine who will be president and prime minister), last held in 2001, were
considered free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.

The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens;
although there were problems in some areas, the law and judiciary provide
effective means of addressing individual instances of abuse. The following
human rights problems were reported:

a.. overcrowded prisons
b.. lengthy pretrial detention
c.. excessively long court proceedings
d.. violence against women
e.. child abuse
f.. trafficking in persons
g.. child labor
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings; however, in May a police officer in Turin shot to death a
Senegalese immigrant who refused to exit his vehicle during a drug search.
The incident was under investigation at year's end.

In January an appeals court sentenced a police officer to 10 years'
imprisonment for the shooting death of a teenager who did not stop when
directed to do so in 2000. This ruling re-imposed an earlier penalty that
the court of cassation annulled in 2004.

In January the appeals court of Naples sentenced a police officer to 10
years imprisonment for killing a 17-year-old boy who tried to escape police
custody in 2000.

In December 2003 the leader of the New Red Brigades (Communist Combatant
Party) was charged with the March 2003 murder of a police officer. The trial
had not begun by the end of the year. However, in July, in a case involving
some of the same suspects, the Rome appeals court sentenced three Red
Brigade members to life imprisonment and nine others to lesser sentences for
the 1999 killing of an academic advisor (D'Antona) to the labor ministry. In
March and June, the Rome court sentenced 5 Red Brigade members to life and
one to 16 years' imprisonment for the 2002 murder of another labor ministry
academic advisor (Biagi).

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The law prohibits such practices; however, there were reports that police
occasionally used excessive force against persons detained in connection
with common criminal offenses or in the course of identity checks. While
this behavior affected both citizens and foreigners, Roma and immigrants
were at particular risk (see section 5).

In 2003 a Nigerian immigrant accused two policemen in Rome of abuse
involving burns to his abdomen while in custody; the incident occurred after
the immigrant had attempted to escape. The case was still under
investigation at the end of the year. In 2004 a prison guard in Lombardy was
charged with raping an Albanian immigrant while in custody. The case
remained under investigation at the end of the year.

In April the trial began for 29 police officers, including a number of
senior officers, charged with perjury, conspiracy, or assault in connection
with a 2001 police raid on a building used by protesters at the G-8 summit
in Genoa. In July the courts acquitted two police officers accused of
conspiring to manufacture evidence during the raid. In October the trial
began for 45 police officers who were indicted for "inhuman or degrading
treatment," including assault, during the subsequent detention of those
protesters. The case remained under investigation at year's end.

The investigation into an off-duty police officer who shot and injured a
16-year-old boy in 2004 was still ongoing at year's end.

In June a trial began for three police officers who were indicted for using
excessive force and causing personal injury to a number of individuals while
trying to clear approximately 100 activists from a Milan emergency room
waiting area in March 2003. It remained ongoing at year's end. Four of the
activists were being investigated for violence against police.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Although prison conditions generally met international standards,
overcrowded and antiquated prisons continued to be problems. In June there
were 59,100 detainees incarcerated in a prison system designed to hold
42,500. Older facilities lacked outdoor or exercise space; some prisons
lacked adequate medical care. Approximately 62 percent of the inmates were
serving sentences; the other 38 percent consisted mainly of detainees
awaiting trial or the outcome of an appeal.

During the year 91 prisoners died while in custody; 51 of those committed
suicide.

The 20 temporary detention centers for illegal immigrants continued to be
overcrowded. The government sometimes restricted nongovernmental
organization (NGO) access to detention centers. For example, in March almost
1,200 illegal immigrants arrived by boat in Lampedusa within 2 days and were
initially sent to a detention center equipped to hold 190 persons. The
government moved the detainees to other facilities within a few days and
then provided NGO access.

Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted prisoners.

The government permitted visits by independent human rights organizations,
parliamentarians, and the media.Amnesty International (AI), the UN Human
Rights Commission, the UN Committee against Torture, and the UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture regularly assessed the country's judicial and prison
system. Several municipalities appointed independent ombudsmen to promote
the rights of detainees and facilitate access to health care and other
services.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government
generally observed these prohibitions.

Role of the Police and Security Apparatus

Four separate police forces, which report to different ministerial or local
authorities, effectively enforced law and order. The national police and the
financial police fall under the jurisdiction of the interior and finance
ministries, respectively. The Ministry of Defense controls the carabinieri,
a military security force; however, the Ministry of Interior assumes control
of carabinieri and financial police units when they perform law enforcement
functions. Under exceptional circumstances, the government may call on the
army to provide security in the form of police duty in certain local areas,
thereby freeing the carabinieri and local police to focus on other duties.
Allegations of police corruption were rare. In April 12 police officers were
charged with corruption, abuse of authority and perjury for their contacts
with criminal associations based on information received from wiretaps. The
case remained under investigation at year's end.

Both the government and the judiciary investigated abuses and prosecuted
police who mistreated persons in custody. In March a trial began for 29 of
31 police officers charged in 2003 with unlawful imprisonment and assault
based on evidence of their conduct during protests in Naples in 2001 (see
section 1.c.).

Arrest and Detention

Warrants, issued by a duly authorized official, are required for arrests
unless there is a specific and immediate danger to which the police must
respond without waiting for a warrant. Within 24 hours of a suspect's
detention, the examining magistrate must decide whether there is enough
evidence to proceed with an arrest. The investigating judge then has 48
hours in which to confirm the arrest and recommend whether the case goes to
trial, and this right to a prompt judicial determination was respected in
practice. Under the law detainees are allowed prompt and regular access to
lawyers of their choosing and to family members. The state provides a lawyer
to indigents. In exceptional circumstances--usually in cases of organized
crime figures--where there is danger that attorneys may attempt to tamper
with evidence, the investigating judge may take up to five days to
interrogate the accused before the accused is allowed to contact an
attorney. There is no provision for bail; however, judges may grant
provisional liberty to suspects awaiting trial. As a safeguard against
unjustified detention, at a detainee's request, panels of judges (liberty
tribunals) review cases of persons awaiting trial on a regular basis and
rule whether continued detention is warranted.

In July the president signed into law a new antiterrorism decree that:
doubles to 24 hours the amount of time police can hold suspects without
charge; makes obligatory arrests for crimes involving terrorism; makes it
easier to deport persons suspected of terrorist activities without the
involvement of magistrates; allows police to take DNA samples from suspects
for identification purposes; makes it easier for intelligence services to
conduct wiretaps; requires identification to purchase phone cards and a
license to operate an Internet cafe; increases penalties for hiding one's
identity in public places, and allows the government to deport suspects
under investigation without the involvement of the judiciary (suspects can
appeal only after the deportation occurs), and expands the reasons for
deportation to include whether a person's presence can in any way facilitate
terrorist activities or organizations.

There were no reports of political detainees.

Preventive detention can be imposed only as a last resort if there is clear
and convincing evidence of a serious offense (such as crimes involving the
Mafia or those related to terrorism, drugs, arms, or subversion) with a
maximum sentence of not less than four years or if there is a risk of an
offense being repeated or of evidence being falsified. In these cases, a
maximum of two years of preliminary investigation is permitted. Except in
extraordinary situations, preventive custody is not permitted for pregnant
women, single parents of children under age 3, persons over age 70, or those
who are seriously ill.

Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. No prisoner can be
incarcerated for a longer term than the maximum sentence that could be
imposed. The maximum term of pretrial incarceration is 2 years for a crime
with a maximum penalty of 6 years, 4 years for a crime with a maximum
penalty of 20 years, and 6 years for a crime with a maximum penalty of more
than 20 years. During the first half of the year, 36 percent of pretrial
detainees were awaiting a final sentence; trials had not begun for another
27 percent of them.

In May the court of cassation increased the amount of financial
reimbursement awarded by the appeals court in Genoa to an entrepreneur who
was charged in 1993 and spent seven and one-half years in prison before
being acquitted by an appeals court in 2001. According to some judicial
experts, a few prosecutors used pretrial detention as pressure to obtain
confessions.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The law provides for an independent judiciary, and the government generally
respected this provision in practice; however, most cases involved long
trial delays, and the impact of organized crime on the criminal justice
system complicated the judicial process.

There are three levels of courts. Either a single judge or a court hears
cases at the level of first instance. At the second level, separate courts
with juries hear appeals of civil and criminal cases. Decisions of the court
of appeals can be appealed to the highest court, the court of cassation
(Supreme Court) in Rome, but only for reasons related to law, not to a
case's merit. A separate constitutional court hears cases involving possible
conflict between laws and the constitution or involving conflicts over the
duties or powers of different units of government.

In July the parliament enacted judicial reform after amending an earlier
bill that was rejected by the president for being unconstitutional. The
reform: changed the career track of professional magistrates (who previously
functioned as both prosecutors and trial/appellate judges) to require that
they become either prosecutors or judges and conditioned promotion upon
examination; allows district prosecutors to determine the priority of cases;
and entitles the court of cassation to discipline magistrates who
participate in political activities, leak information to the press and
others, or otherwise violate judicial rules of procedure. Magistrates went
on strike several times during the year to protest these reforms.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for the right to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary
generally enforced this right. Trials are public and juries are used.
Defendants have access to an attorney in a timely manner to prepare a
defense. Defendants can confront and question witnesses against them, and
they can present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Evidence held by
prosecutors may be made available to defendants and their attorneys. The law
grants defendants the presumption of innocence. Defendants may appeal
verdicts to the highest appellate court.

Domestic and European institutions continued to criticize the slow pace of
justice in the country. During the year over 800 petitions were pending in
the European Court of Human Rights seeking compensation against the
government for excessively long proceedings. Observers cited several reasons
for delays: the absence of effective limits on the length of pretrial
investigations; the large number of minor offenses included in the penal
code; unclear and contradictory legal provisions; and insufficient
resources, including an inadequate number of judges. In January the chief
prosecutor of the cassation court announced that 81 percent of reported
crimes went unpunished. In 2004 he reported that the average time to
complete a civil trial was eight years and a criminal trial five years.

The courts had significant leeway to determine when the statute of
limitations should apply, and defendants often took advantage of the slow
pace of justice to delay trials through extensive pleas or appeals (see
section 3). In December the parliament approved legislation that reduced the
discretionary power of judges to determine the statute of limitations. The
new terms are equal to the maximum sentence provided for each crime and
cannot be lower than six years; the law does not apply to crimes punished
with life sentences and does not affect ongoing judicial cases. The law also
increases penalties for Mafia-related crimes, increased sentences by up to
one-half for repeat offenders, and allows drug addicts, people aged 70 and
over or pregnant women to serve sentences at home. While the legislation
will clarify problems related to the statute of limitations, it is not yet
clear how it will affect prison overcrowding.

Political Prisoners

There were no reports of political prisoners.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The law prohibits such actions, and the government generally respected these
prohibitions in practice. Searches and electronic monitoring generally could
be carried out only under judicial warrant and in carefully defined
circumstances; however, the new antiterrorism decree made it easier for
intelligence agencies to obtain permission to conduct wiretaps.

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. However, the autonomous judiciary was sensitive to investigative
leaks and press criticism and imposed fines for defamation.

During the year the president of a Muslim association filed a defamation
suit against the writer Oriana Fallaci for the initially ordered the
dismissal of the case, but subsequently a judge sent the case to trial in
Bergamo. A hearing was scheduled for June 2006. The book was on sale
throughout the country.

There were approximately 80 newspapers, of which 8 had national readership;
the Prime Minister Berlusconi's family controlled 2 of them.

Critics charged that Prime Minister Berlusconi directly or indirectly
controlled six of the country's seven national broadcast channels. Although
Prime Minister Berlusconi through his Finivest company sold 17 percent of
his shares during the year, he continued to hold a major interest in
Mediaset, which owned three channels, and the state-owned network RAI
controlled the other three. RAI's three channels and other networks
broadcast a wide range of opinion that reflected the full spectrum of
political views in the country, but disputes over partisanship on the
airwaves continued to prompt frequent political debate.

The NGO Reporters without Borders and the journalists' union criticized
several judicial actions directed against journalists. In May a prosecutor
ordered financial police to conduct a search in the office of a national
newspaper and interrogate some journalists to ascertain the source of an
article on arms trafficking. Neither the newspaper nor the prosecutor took
further action on the case. Critics noted the contradiction between separate
laws maintaining the sanctity of journalistic sources and another law
authorizing magistrates to carry out investigations into journalistic
sources.

Politicians and their supporters filed several defamation suits during the
year. In February President Ciampi granted a pardon to a 77-year old
journalist and senator who had been sentenced to 29 months' imprisonment for
defamation. In April a trial began for three journalists from a national
newspaper who were accused of defaming the leader of a political party in
2003. In March a judge dismissed charges filed by five magistrates against a
journalist who wrote an article about the alleged political use of turncoat
witnesses in connection with legal proceedings against former Prime Minister
Andreotti. In July Prime Minister Berlusconi filed a libel suit against a
British journalist over allegations in a book of criminal activity and
political corruption; Berlusconi is seeking $1.17 million(one million euros)
in compensation.

The government generally did not restrict access to the Internet; however,
the government could block foreign-based Internet sites if they contravened
national laws. The new antiterrorism decree required a license to operate an
Internet cafe.

There were no government restrictions on academic freedom.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The law provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the government
generally respected these rights in practice.

c. Freedom of Religion

The law provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally
respected this right in practice.

There is no state religion; however, an historic agreement between the Roman
Catholic Church and the government, revised in 1984, provides the Church
certain privileges. For example, the Church may select Catholic religion
teachers, whose earnings are paid by the government. The law authorizes the
government to enter into relations with non-Catholic religious groups
pursuant to an accord (intese), on the basis of which the government can
provide support (including financial) to the religion; these accords are
voluntary, initiated by religious groups, and do not infringe on the
practice of religion. The government has signed accords with several
minority religious groups. At year's end the Buddhist Union and Jehovah's
Witnesses awaited parliamentary ratification of government accords.

Muslim women are free to wear the veil in public offices and schools;
however, there were occasional reports of objections by the government or
the public to women wearing a burqah (a garment that completely covers the
face and body). The new antiterrorism decree (see section 1.d.) doubled
existing penalties, from 6 months' imprisonment and a $600 to $1,200 (500 to
1000 euros) fine to 1 to 2 years' imprisonment and a $1,200 to $2,400 (1,000
to 2,000 euros) fine) for violating an updated 1931 law that prohibits
individuals from hiding their identity (by wearing a crash helmet or other
garb such as a burqah).

In September the government used the new antiterrorism decree to expel the
imam of Turin and the vice president of the Como Muslim Cultural Center from
their positions on the grounds that they were preaching hate and violence
and recruiting terrorists.

The continuing presence of Catholic symbols, such as crucifixes, in many
government offices, courtrooms, and other public buildings has drawn
criticism and has been the subject of lawsuits.

Societal Abuses and Discrimination

The country's approximately 30 thousand Jews maintained synagogues in 21
cities. There were no violent anti-Semitic attacks, but societal prejudices
against Judaism continued and swastika graffiti appeared in some cities. The
government hosted meetings to increase educational awareness of the
Holocaust and to combat anti-Semitism in Europe.

For a more detailed discussion, see the 2005 International Religious Report.

d. Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and
Repatriation

The law provides for these rights, and the government generally respected
them in practice.

The law prohibits forced exile and the government did not employ it.

Protection of Refugees

The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance
with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protocol, and the government has established a system for providing
protection to refugees. In practice, the government provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The government granted refugee status or asylum.

The government also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not
qualify as refugees under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol and
provided it to 2,352 persons during the year.

The government cooperated with the office of UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees, and
provided temporary protection to refugees fleeing hostilities or natural
disasters. Such refugees were granted temporary residence permits, which
must be renewed periodically but did not ensure future permanent residence.

The majority of illegal immigrants were denied entry at the border. Those
who did enter, usually via the sea, were sent to temporary detention centers
for processing, and a magistrate determined if an illegal immigrant would be
deported (for those whose identity can be determined), issued an order to
depart (for those whose identity has not been determined), or accepted for
asylum processing. Some NGOs were at times denied entry to the detention
facilities to check on asylum processing.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change
Their Government

The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic,
free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Executive authority is vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the
president of the council (the prime minister). The head of state (president
of the republic) nominates the prime minister after consulting with the
leaders of all political forces in parliament. National parliamentary
elections (which determine who will be president and prime minister) last
held in 2001 were considered free and fair.

There were numerous political parties that functioned without government
restrictions.

There were 25 women in the 315-seat senate and 63 women in the 630-seat
chamber of deputies, and women held 2 of 25 cabinet positions. For the first
time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promoted two women to the rank of
senior ambassador (of 20 actively serving at this rank).

The only legally defined minorities are linguistic--the French-speaking
Valdostani and the German-speaking Altoatesini/Suditirolesi. During the year
there were 6 members of linguistic minorities in the 315-seat senate and 5
in the 630-seat chamber of deputies. In a largely monolithic society,
immigrants represented approximately 4 percent of the population, and less
than half of these qualified as ethnic/racial minorities. There were no
members of the new immigrant groups in the senate, chamber of deputies, or
the cabinet.

Government Corruption and Transparency

There were isolated reports of government corruption during the year, and
the general public believed that politicians were corrupt. According to
press reporting, between November 2003 and November 2004 a special court
dealing with financial issues issued 154 summonses in response to complaints
from private citizens and public officials regarding allegations of bribery
or graft in public administration. There was no information on the number of
cases referred to a prosecutor for further action.

In July prosecutors sent 148 people to trial for involvement in a 1999
scheme to avoid military service by bribing officials. The trial had not
concluded by the end of the year.

The Independent Task Force on Corruption began work in October 2004. It had
collected 50 citizen complaints on various corruption charges and began an
investigation into the way professors are hired at state universities at
year's end.

Defendants often took advantage of the slow pace of justice to delay trials
through extensive pleas or appeals. In one high-level case in May, the
courts dropped a bribery charged filed against Prime Minister Berlusconi
which related to events in the early 1990s surrounding the purchase of a
large publishing house; the court ruled the statute of limitations had
expired. In October a court in Milan acquitted Prime Minister Berlusconi of
charges that one of his companies (Finivest) engaged in falsified accounting
between 1989 and 1995; the court ruled that the case exceeded the statute of
limitations. In December Prime Minister Berlusconi's former lawyer and
ex-Minister of Defense was convicted of corruption and sentenced to five
years' imprisonment by an appeals court in a case that involved a judge and
the holding company of the prime minister; he is appealing the decision to
the court of cassation. In 2001 the Berlusconi government passed a law
shortening the statute of limitations for this kind of crime.

The law provides citizens with the right to access government documents and
be informed of administrative processes. With some exceptions for security
issues, the government and local authorities respected this right in
practice.

Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental
Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative and
responsive to their views.

Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons

The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender (except with
regard to hazardous work), ethnic background, or political opinion, and
provides some protection against discrimination based on disability,
language, or social status, and the government generally enforced these
prohibitions. However, societal discrimination and violence against women,
persons with disabilities, minorities, and Roma persisted.

Women

Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a problem. The NGO
Telefono Rosa, which provides a hotline through which abused women may
obtain legal, medical, and other assistance, reported that 13 percent of the
calls it received involved sexual violence, 37 percent involved physical
violence in the home, and more than 31 percent of the calls involved
psychological violence. Telefono Rosa reported receiving an average of six
hundred calls per month. In 2004 the chief prosecutor of the cassation court
reported that complaints of sexual violence and exploitation of women
increased by 48 percent compared to 2003. Some of this increase was credited
to the success of new public awareness campaigns that encouraged greater
reporting of these crimes.

Legislation protects women from physical abuse, including by family members,
allows for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence against women, and
shields women who have been victims of attack from publicity. Law
enforcement and judicial authorities were not reluctant to prosecute
perpetrators of violence against women, but victims sometimes did not press
charges due to fear, shame, or ignorance of the law. According to Telefono
Rosa, approximately three out of four women who experienced violence
declined to report it to the authorities, and one in five who did report it
later withdrew their complaint.

Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the government enforced the
law effectively. In 2003 4,526 cases of rape were reported, 3,522 persons
were charged, and 1,478 were convicted.

Individual acts of prostitution in private residences are legal. It is legal
for adults to solicit or pay money for acts of prostitution. It is illegal
to operate a brothel, traffic in human beings, or engage in sex with a
minor.

Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation remained a problem (see section
5, Trafficking).

Under the law citizens and noncitizen permanent residents who engaged in sex
tourism, even abroad, could be tried and convicted in domestic courts, even
if the offense is not a crime in the country in which it occurred. The
country also has what is considered a model code of conduct for tourism
agencies to help combat sex tourism. In 2003 two individuals were sent to
trial for sex tourism; the trials had not concluded by the year's end. Four
persons who were accused of organizing tours to Brazil that included the
sexual services of girls ages 12 to 17.

Sexual harassment is illegal, and the government effectively enforced the
law. In May the government issued a decree that makes emotional abuse based
on gender discrimination a crime, and was designed to combat sexual
harassment in the workplace.

Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under
family law, property law, and in the judicial system.

According to the European Commission, the gap between salaries for men and
women averaged 6 percent. Women were underrepresented in many fields, such
as management, entrepreneurial business, and the professions. According to
the superior council of the judiciary, 40 percent of magistrates are women,
but only 3 percent of chief justices are women.

A number of government offices worked to ensure women's rights. A woman
heads the Ministry for Equal Opportunity, and there is an equal opportunity
commission in the office of the prime minister. The labor ministry has a
similar commission that focuses on women's rights and discrimination in the
workplace. Many NGOs, most of which were affiliated with labor unions or
political parties, actively and effectively promoted women's rights.

Children

The government demonstrated a commitment to children's rights and welfare.
Schooling is free and compulsory for children from age 7 to age 18; those
unable (or unwilling) to follow the academic curriculum may shift to
vocational training at age 15. In 2004 the Ministry of Education reported
that 83.2 percent of children age 15 to 18 attended secondary school. There
was no difference in the treatment and attendance of girls and boys at the
primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Completion of secondary
school was the highest level achieved by most children.

The country provides free state-provided medical care for all citizens.

Child abuse was a problem; in 2004 the NGO Telefono Azzurro received
approximately 376 thousand calls related to child abuse. Approximately 5
percent of cases involved sexual abuse, 14 percent physical violence, and 13
percent psychological exploitation. In 59 percent of the cases, the victims
were female; 46 percent were ages 10 or younger. In 2004 the chief
prosecutor of the cassation court reported that complaints of sexual
violence and exploitation of children increased by 28 percent compared to
2003. In the first 6 months of 2004, judicial authorities registered 349
allegations of sexual abuse against minors and accused 392 persons of abuse.
Between 2001 and 2003, the government funded 144 projects carried out by
NGOs to improve parent-child relations and combat child abuse.

NGOs estimated that 8 to 10 percent of prostitutes were minors. An
independent research center estimated that there were between 1,800 and
3,000 minors who worked as street prostitutes, of whom 1,500 to 2,300 were
trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution (see section 5,
Trafficking).

In 2002 the government created an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate
the fight against pedophilia, which is chaired by the Minister of Equal
Opportunity. A special unit of the police monitored 27,200 websites in the
first half of the year, investigated 769 people for crimes involving child
pornography online and arrested 21 of them.

Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.)

Trafficking in Persons

The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country. According to government and NGO sources,
approximately two thousand new victims were trafficked to and within the
country in 2004. The law provides for sentences of 8 to 20 years'
imprisonment for trafficking in persons and for enslavement. For convictions
in which the victims were minors destined for prostitution, sentences are
increased by one-third to one-half. The law applies special prison
conditions to traffickers that are designed to limit criminals' ability to
continue their operations from jail. The number of persons investigated for
trafficking decreased from 2,231 in 2003 to 1,861 in 2004, but arrests
increased from 328 to 341; the number of prosecutions increased from 59 to
120 and convictions from 32 to 77 respectively. The government also
cooperated with foreign governments, including Nigeria, Ukraine, Bulgaria,
and Moldova, to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases.

In March police broke up three trafficking rings in the northern part of the
country and arrested 12 Albanians and a Bulgarian for entrapping Romanian
students and using violent coercion to sell them to Albanian gangs for
prostitution. The case remained under investigation at year's end.

In June police in Calabria, in cooperation with Bulgarian authorities,
arrested 25 Italian and Bulgarian individuals and charged them with
trafficking in persons, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and sexual assault.
The traffickers reportedly trafficked up to 70 persons a week into the
country, and then forced them into jobs such as shepherding, factory work,
and prostitution. The case remained under investigation at year's end.

In December police arrested a Romanian and accused him of exploiting 9
Romani children, ages 6 to 14, by picking them up in a camp every morning
and forcing them to beg on the streets.

The following reported 2004 trafficking investigations remained ongoing at
year's end: a Romanian father who was selling his 10-year-old child for sex
in the outskirts of Milan; two Albanians, one Egyptian, one Pakistani, and
one Italian involved in trafficking women from Eastern European countries
for prostitution; six Bulgarian men who accompanied Bulgarian women into the
country who gave birth to children and then sold the babies to Italian
families for $13,500 (10 thousand euros) each; 12 persons, including 2
police officers, who were arrested in Sassari and charged with trafficking
for prostitution and falsification of documents; and four persons who were
accused of organizing tours to Brazil that included the sexual services of
girls ages 12 to 17.

According to the government and an NGO, approximately 2 thousand persons
were trafficked in 2003; 8 to 10 percent were believed to be underage.

The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked persons.
Trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation involved
immigrants, mostly from Nigeria, North Africa, Eastern Europe, China, and
South America. Press reports estimated that more than 85 percent of
prostitutes in the country were immigrants, primarily from Nigeria and
Eastern Europe.

Victims of trafficking who were sexually exploited faced the attendant
health risks resulting from unsafe or unprotected sex. Trafficking victims
in the Tuscany region who worked in sweatshops were possibly exposed to
dangerous chemicals in the leather industry.

Organized criminal groups were responsible for most trafficking in the
country; prostitution rings routinely moved trafficked persons from city to
city to avoid arrest.

Victims of trafficking were usually lured to Western Europe with promises of
a job, or sold by relatives, friends, or acquaintances. They were then
forced into prostitution, laboring in restaurants or sweatshops, or begging
in the street. Their traffickers enforced compliance by taking their
documents, beating and raping them, or threatening their families.

Government officials generally did not participate in, facilitate, or
condone trafficking.

The law provides temporary residence or work permits to persons who seek to
escape their exploiters. Victims were encouraged to file complaints, and
there are no legal impediments for them to do so. Prostitutes who qualify as
official trafficking victims under law receive numerous benefits, including
residence, whether or not they filed a complaint. Illegal immigrants in
general face deportation if caught. NGOs alleged that the government did not
allow enough time between apprehension and deportation of illegal immigrants
to screen for trafficking victims.

The government provided legal and medical assistance once a person was
identified as having been trafficked. There were shelters and programs for
job training. There also were assistance and incentive programs for those
willing to return to their home country; in 2003, 47 victims who chose to go
home were repatriated. The domestic NGO Social Service International
assisted in repatriating unaccompanied immigrant minors.

The law empowers magistrates to seize convicted traffickers' assets to
finance legal assistance, vocational training, and other social integration
assistance to trafficking victims.

The government, in conjunction with other governments and NGOs, worked to
orchestrate awareness campaigns. The law directs the foreign ministry,
together with the equal opportunity ministry, to conclude additional
antitrafficking agreements with trafficking source countries.

Persons with Disabilities

The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of other
state services, and the government effectively enforced these provisions;
however, there was some societal discrimination. Although the law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, mechanical barriers,
particularly in public transport, left such persons at a disadvantage. The
Ministry of Labor and Welfare was responsible for protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities.

In August the carabinieri closed a private health facility for the mentally
ill in Reggio Calabria for structural, health and safety violations.

In June the national airline refused to board a disabled person claiming it
would cause delays injurious to other passengers.

Of the 500 thousand workers with disabilities registered at public
employment centers, only 4.8 percent found work.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Police continued to mistreat young immigrants and Roma. An NGO (Opera
Nomadi) reported that there were no cases of abuse directed at Roma, but
societal discrimination continued to affect government health and education
services and citizenship claims.

Public opinion surveys indicated that the prevalence of negative attitudes
toward immigrants was increasing, especially among young persons and in the
north of the country. Immigrants believed they were discriminated against in
employment (see section 6.e.).

There were no accurate statistics on the number of Roma in the country. NGOs
estimated that a population of 120 thousand, up to 80 percent of whom could
be citizens, was concentrated on the fringes of urban areas in the central
and southern parts of the country, living in camps characterized by poor
housing, unhygienic sanitary conditions, limited employment prospects,
inadequate educational facilities and the absence of a consistent police
presence. Faced with limited income and job opportunities, and suffering
from harassment, some Roma turned to begging or petty crime, which led to
repressive measures by police and some judicial authorities.

The government's Office to Combat Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in the
Ministry of Equal Opportunity provided assistance to victims. On its
national hotline it received 298 reported incidents of discrimination
against ethnic minorities between December 2004 and August. The majority of
complaints related to wage and overtime issues and discrimination in public.
The office provided assistance in mediating disputes.

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

There was at least one allegation of official discrimination against
homosexuals. In June a trial began for a homosexual who claimed that
personnel in the ministries of defense and transport had his drivers'
license revoked because of his sexual orientation. The trial was ongoing at
year's end.

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

The law provides for the right to establish, join, and carry out union
activities in the workplace without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice. Unions claimed
to represent between 35 and 40 percent of the workforce.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The law allowsunions to conduct their activities without interference, and
the government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce worked
under a collective bargaining agreement, but nonunion members working
alongside union employees also benefited from the same agreements. The law
provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right by
conducting legal strikes. The law restricts strikes affecting essential
public services (such as transport, sanitation, and health), requiring
longer advance notification and precluding multiple strikes within days of
each other. There are no export processing zones.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children;
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
Police periodically discovered clandestine Chinese immigrants working in
factories throughout the country, particularly in Tuscany's large Chinese
immigrant community.

d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

The government implemented laws and policies designed to generally protect
children from exploitation in the workplace; however, child labor was a
problem. The law prohibits the employment of children under age 15 (with
some limited exceptions), and there are specific restrictions on employment
in hazardous or unhealthful occupations for men under age 18 and women under
age 21, and these laws generally were effectively enforced in practice.
However, the enforcement of minimum age or other child protection laws was
difficult in the extensive underground economy. During the year an
independent research center estimated that approximately 460 thousand
children worked at least occasionally, while 70 thousand children worked for
at least 4 hours per day. In 2002 the National Institute of Statistics
(ISTAT) reported that approximately 31,500 children--age 11 to 14--worked in
agriculture (mostly boys) and urban hotels, coffee bars, and restaurants
(mostly girls). This child labor occurred primarily within the family, and
mistreatment was not a problem. However, ISTAT stated that mistreatment and
exploitation were problems for child labor that occurred outside of
families, particularly for children of immigrants.

Illegal immigrant child laborers from northern Africa, the Philippines,
Albania, and China continued to enter the country in large numbers. Many
minor children worked alongside the rest of their families to produce
scarves, purses, and imitations of various brand name products.

Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).

The government, employers' associations, and unions continued their
tripartite cooperation on child labor. The Ministry of Labor, working with
the police and the carabinieri, is responsible for enforcement of child
labor laws, but their efforts generally were ineffective. In the first half
of the year, the Ministry of Welfare conducted inspections of 2,311
companies and found 2,276 Italians aged 14-18 and 259 foreigners. The
ministry fined companies for violations concerning lack of periodical
medical check-ups (600 cases), work-hours and leave (158 cases), and minimum
age (84 cases of children under 15 being employed.)

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

The law does not set minimum wages, but they are set through collective
bargaining agreements on a sector-by-sector basis. The minimum wage in most
industries did provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Judges effectively enforced the wages set through collective bargaining
agreements.

The legal workweek is 40 hours. Overtime work may not exceed 2 hours per day
or an average of 12 hours per week. Unless limited by a collective
bargaining agreement, the law sets maximum permissible overtime hours in
industrial sector firms at no more than 80 hours per quarter and 250 hours
annually. The minimum number of rest periods required wasone day per week
and 11 hours per day. Premium pay is required for overtime. These standards
were effectively enforced.

The law sets basic health and safety standards and guidelines for
compensation for on-the-job injuries. Labor inspectors were from the public
health service or from the Ministry of Labor, but they were few in number in
view of the scope of their responsibilities. Workers have the right to
remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their
continued employment, and the government effectively enforced this right.

"H a N a R K i C H o" <HaN@RKiC.Ho> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:441489a9@newsgate.x-privat.org...
> Giustizia: i komunisti del Dipartimento di Stato americano. Berlusconi
> andrà
> alla CNN per denunciare l'ennesimo complotto ai suoi danni?

E bravo il ns orfanello di Stalin !!
Hai battuto tutti i rekirds dei msg OT postati sul IEB.
Hai oscurato addirittura le piu' bolscevike Pantegane Rosse di infasta
memoria.
Entri di diritto nel GUINESS del + LUNGO MSG OT della storia di questa
amatissimo ENNEGI.
Bravissimo.
VERGOGNA VERGOGNA VERGOGNA !!!
Perche' ti mascheri con nick di comodo ? La tua puzza da cloaka massima e'
il tuo DNA....... ma possibile che dopo tanti anni non trovi altre
occupazioni ???
Il Pauletto.
Certo che in questi ultimi 5 anni ne hai mangiata di "Sheisse" !!!!!!!!!