Rome, 3 July (LaPresse) – The Constitutional Court has confirmed the constitutionality of the strict system of penalties introduced by the so-called ‘Cutro Decree’ to punish the most serious cases of migrant smuggling. In Judgment No. 120, filed today, the judges ruled that the penalty provided for the offence of causing death or injury as a result of facilitating illegal immigration is not unconstitutional, rejecting the constitutional challenges raised by the Preliminary Investigating Judge at the Court of Syracuse. The case stems from a dramatic crossing of the Mediterranean. A boat carrying thirty-four migrants collided with a patrol boat during a rescue operation. The toll was devastating: three people died and a further ten were injured. During the criminal proceedings, the judge had questioned the proportionality of Article 12-bis of the Consolidated Law on Immigration, introduced in 2023 following the Cutro shipwreck. The provision stipulates a prison sentence of between twenty and thirty years where the facilitation of irregular entry results, as an unintended consequence, in the death of several people or in the death of one person accompanied by serious or very serious injuries to others. The referring judge considered this provision to be excessively severe compared with other offences under the Criminal Code. The Constitutional Court did not deny the particular severity of the provision. In its judgment, it acknowledges that the legislature has opted for a “punitive response characterised by exceptional severity”. However, this choice does not exceed the threshold of manifest disproportion required to declare the provision unconstitutional.
Council: Are the penalties under the Cutro Decree for the deaths of migrants lawful
Rome, 3 July (LaPresse) – The Constitutional Court has confirmed the constitutionality of the strict system of penalties introduced by the so-called ‘Cutro Decree’ to punish the most serious cases of migrant smuggling. In Judgment No. 120, filed today, the judges ruled that the penalty provided for the offence of causing death or injury as a result of facilitating illegal immigration is not unconstitutional, rejecting the constitutional challenges raised by the Preliminary Investigating Judge at the Court of Syracuse. The case stems from a dramatic crossing of the Mediterranean. A boat carrying thirty-four migrants collided with a patrol boat during a rescue operation. The toll was devastating: three people died and a further ten were injured. During the criminal proceedings, the judge had questioned the proportionality of Article 12-bis of the Consolidated Law on Immigration, introduced in 2023 following the Cutro shipwreck. The provision stipulates a prison sentence of between twenty and thirty years where the facilitation of irregular entry results, as an unintended consequence, in the death of several people or in the death of one person accompanied by serious or very serious injuries to others. The referring judge considered this provision to be excessively severe compared with other offences under the Criminal Code. The Constitutional Court did not deny the particular severity of the provision. In its judgment, it acknowledges that the legislature has opted for a “punitive response characterised by exceptional severity”. However, this choice does not exceed the threshold of manifest disproportion required to declare the provision unconstitutional.
