Overview
- The Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that article 12‑bis of the 2023 decreto Cutro is not constitutionally illegitimate and that its 20–30 year prison range for facilitation that unintentionally causes multiple deaths or a death plus very serious injuries is allowable.
- The referral came from a Siracusa preliminary hearing in a criminal case about a boat carrying 34 migrants that collided with a patrol vessel, an incident that killed three people and injured ten and prompted the court to assess proportionality questions.
- The Court said the law targets only particularly grave conduct that exposes migrants to life‑threatening or inhuman conditions and rejected comparisons to ordinary voluntary homicide and key proportionality challenges.
- Judges emphasized existing protections for so‑called migrante‑scafista — a migrant who temporarily pilots a boat — noting state‑of‑necessity defenses and attenuating rules for minimal contribution or psychological coercion can exclude or lower punishment.
- The decision confirms the legislature’s authority to impose a tough penalty for deadly smuggling but preserves case‑by‑case review by lower courts and keeps broader political and humanitarian debates about migration control and rescue practices unresolved.