The Italian Senate, after a short debate and over the objections of the government and of several Communist deputies, adopted today a law to outlaw genocide which would allow the authorities to grant the extradition of persons accused in another country of genocide.
The government, which favored a genocide law in keeping with Italy’s ratification in 1951 of the International Convention to Outlaw Genocide, said it considered genocide a political crime and, under the terms of the Italian Constitution, would not be an extraditable offense. In this, the government was supported by several Communist deputies.
However, a Socialist deputy, Sen. Pletro Caleffi, rose to call genocide “the most abominable of crimes which must not be enabled by defining it as a political offense.” His view carried the day. The law provides 12 to 30 year sentences for persons convicted of genocide by Italian courts.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
