Bill to Boost Defendants’ Rights in Italy Hinders Terrorism War

ROME —  With the rest of Europe promising swifter cross-border cooperation against terrorists, lawmakers here voted Wednesday to make it harder for prosecutors to use evidence from other countries against criminal defendants in Italy.

Supporters of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a defendant in three long-running corruption cases, pushed an overhaul of the Italian penal code through both houses of Parliament, overriding criticism that he is weakening the anti-terror cause to wipe away his own legal troubles.

The legislation, which still has to be signed by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, could slow thousands of cases. Among them is at least one against defendants suspected of having links to the Al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, who has been identified by American officials as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Italian presidents can send legislation back to Parliament for changes but rarely do so.

Bitter Parliamentary Battles Over Legislation

Berlusconi’s center-right coalition offered the bill as part of a judicial reform package to strengthen the rights of defendants, setting off one of the most bitter parliamentary battles since his government took office in June.

Foreign judicial authorities will be required to follow all of Italy’s bureaucratic procedures, which are more cumbersome than those of most other Western countries, before passing on trial evidence to their Italian counterparts.

The tiniest procedural error could enable an Italian judge to throw out a piece of foreign evidence--not only in future criminal cases but also in those now underway.

“Every document of evidence [from abroad] would have to be rubber-stamped, or photocopies would have to be authenticated by a judicial official, or a translation would have to be made by a ‘sworn expert,’ or copies would have to be sent to certain offices within a deadline,” said Antonio Di Pietro, a former prosecutor and critic of the measure.

“It’s like saying, ‘Give me a wrong rubber stamp in any part of the world, and I will get you off the hook in Italy,’ ” he added.

The Justice Ministry said foreign evidence in as many as 5,401 pending cases would have to be reviewed in light of the legislation.

One such case involves five North African terrorism suspects arrested in April near Milan and charged with belonging to a criminal organization, trafficking weapons and falsifying passports.

An Italian prosecutor investigating their suspected links with Al Qaeda has gathered evidence from other countries, but it would have to be sought again and resubmitted if it does not meet the new standard.

The measure could strengthen defendants’ rights in at least one criminal case against the 65-year-old tycoon-turned-prime minister.

Berlusconi, one of the world’s richest individuals, was elected despite the slow-moving corruption cases, which date to the mid-1990s. The charges stem from his business activity in amassing three television networks, a newspaper, a soccer team and extensive land, publishing and insurance holdings.

In a case based in part on Swiss bank evidence, Berlusconi and a close associate are accused of bribing judges in Rome to win a favorable ruling on a large business transaction.

Defense lawyers last year asked an Italian court to reject legal documents from Switzerland because their pages were numbered wrongly and were photocopied, rather than original, material.

Bill Seen as Betraying a Promise to Allies

Switzerland’s ambassador to Italy, Alexis Lautenberg, said he was “astonished” by the legislation, which grew from legislative amendments to an Italian-Swiss accord on judicial cooperation.

Amid a shouting match that brought Senate deliberations to a brief suspension Tuesday, opposition lawmakers accused the government of betraying a promise to Western allies to join a common legal front against terrorism.

Days after the Sept. 11 assaults, the European Union agreed in principle to streamline criminal investigations by abolishing extradition procedures among its 15 member countries, harmonizing their evidence procedures, and making arrest and search warrants in one country applicable in all 14 others. Italy is a founding member of the EU.

The Italian legislation appears to violate that agreement. Center-left opposition leader Francesco Rutelli said Berlusconi wants to rein in “investigations on money laundering, tax havens and all other tools that terrorist groups rely on to finance themselves.”

Center-left leaders said they will challenge the law in Italy’s Constitutional Court if Ciampi signs it.

Gaetano Pecorella, Berlusconi’s lawyer and the head of a parliamentary judicial affairs committee, rejected the criticism as “grotesque.”

He said the opposition “is looking for any occasion to say that our laws are favoring one person or another or damaging the country.”

Berlusconi won a separate victory last week when Parliament narrowed the definition of certain white-collar crimes involving false accounting, another allegation for which he is on trial.

At the same time, the prime minister offered his long-promised plan to deal with the conflicts of interest resulting from his ownership of news media outlets: Leaders of his majority coalition in Parliament will appoint a three-member watchdog group to monitor “possible conflicts” and report back to lawmakers.