Type: Judgment

Authority: National Courts: Supreme Courts (Italy) - Corte di Cassazione

Date: 07/25/2007

Subject: The Supreme Court preliminarily declares to share the statement included in the appealed decree, according to which homosexuality must be recognized “as a human condition worth of protection, in pursuance of Constitutional norms”; as a consequence, sexual freedom must also be “considered as freedom of living one’s sexual preferences without conditionings and restrictions”, as expression of the right to fulfil one’s personality, protected by art. 2 of the Constitution. The Court, however, quashes the decree for lack of sufficient grounds and reverts the issue to the Peace Judge. In particular, the Court denies the recurrence of the case provided by art. 19, par. 1, Law 286/98 (which establishes the prohibition of expulsion of the foreigner, in case of probable persecution, among others for sexual reasons, as in the specific case). According to the Court, the mere reference to the criminal relevance of homosexuality in Senegal, does not amount to a persecution, which exists only when the criminal penalty regards the quality of the person, and not necessarily his possible behaviour.

Parties: Ufficio Territoriale del Governo di Torino, in persona del Prefetto c/ F.C

Original language: Italian

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 19 Prohibition of collective expulsions - Expulsion

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