Italy's lower house passes bill extending legitimate defense right

Italy's lower house on Thursday approved a bill extending the right to self-defense.

The bill would amend Italy's current legislation on legitimate defense, boosting the people's right to use force to protect themselves from harm. This would include the use of weapons against burglars who enter private or commercial properties, even in the case the self-defense resulted in a fatality.

Deputies passed it with 225 votes in favor and 166 against, Ansa news agency reported.

The current legislation on self-defense, which was approved in 2006, requires citizens to prove they had solid reasons to fear for their own life, if they responded with violence to a burglary. If such reasons are not confirmed, a citizen could be charged with murder or murder attempt.

The bill extends the cases in which the "legitimate defense" can be claimed, which would now include any break-in in properties during night, and any robbery attempt accompanied by threats to people's life, their liberty, or their sexual liberty.

Recent cases of burglaries, especially in the northern and wealthy regions, have stirred a tense debate over self-defense killings in the country.

A particularly sensitive case concerned a restaurant owner living in the northern province of Lodi, who in March shot dead a burglar with his hunting rifle during the night.

Robbers had entered the property, apparently to reach the inner tobacco shop, when their noise woke up the owner and his family living above the restaurant, according to media reports. The man, 67, shot and killed one of the burglars, hitting him in the back.

A prosecutor in Lodi put the entrepreneur under investigation for voluntary manslaughter -- a charge carrying a minimum of 21 years in jail in Italy.

The move was not unprecedented for the country, yet it gave rise to outraged protests from local residents, and from opposition Northern League party and other right-wing political forces.

The bill will now need the further approval from the senate, before entering into force, and other amendments were still possible in the proceedings. Endit