EU court finds mafioso Bernardo Provenzano’s rights bulldozed

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled prison restrictions imposed on a mafioso violated his human rights.

FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, April 11, 2006, Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is escorted by police security as he enters a Police building in Palermo, Italy, after being arrested. The European court of human rights in Strasbourg ruled Thursday Oct. 25, 2018, that Italy violated the rights of the late Mafia "boss of bosses" Provenzano by maintaining strict anti-Mafia prison conditions in his last few months alive, and the ruling provoked an immediate rebuke from Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio, who said "the inhumane behaviors were those of Provenzano." (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, FILE)

Italian politicians are outraged the European Court of Human Rights has ruled prison restrictions imposed on a senior mafia boss nicknamed “The Tractor’’ had violated his human rights.

The mafia “boss of bosses’’ Bernardo Provenzano, who headed the feared Cosa Nostra Sicilian mafia, had been jailed in 2006 for multiple murders but had ­formally complained about his treatment in jail, which he deemed too harsh.

Italian authorities had imposed a regime known as 41-bis, a solitary confinement rule specifically for mafiosi and intended to stop them from carrying out their criminal activities from inside jail.

Provenzano was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011 and in 2014 he was transferred to the San Paolo Hospital in Milan for treatment.

But authorities placed him in solitary confinement in the hospital’s maximum-security room, raising the ire of Provenzano’s family. Provenzano made a formal ­application through the courts to be transferred to the hospital used by ordinary prisoners, but it was refused. In July 2016 he died at the age of 83.

The European Court sitting in Strasbourg found on Thursday night that Provenzano had been subjected to inhumane solitary confinement at the hospital and there had been no justification for him being there in the final stages of his life.

Provenzano’s lawyer, Rosalba di Gregorio, said Provenzano’s mental abilities had severely deteriorated in the last few months.

“What we fought was a struggle for affirmation of a principle that the application of hard prison to those who are no longer socially dangerous is reduced to a persecution, “ she said.

But Italy’s ruling coalition was incredulous and angry at the court decision.

“Are we joking?” Five Star Movement leader Luigi di Maio tweeted.

“The inhumane behaviour was that of Provenzano. The 41-bis was and is a fundamental tool to eradicate the mafia and won’t be touched. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Ironically the 41-bis legislation was introduced after two anti-mafia judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, were murdered by Provenzano in 1992.

Northern League leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the ruling exposed the “uselessness” of the European court.

Italian Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said that, while he respected the work of the European court, the 41-bis legislation was ground breaking in respect of trying to control the mafia.

“41-bis cannot be touched,” Mr Bonafedo he said. “There’s a long history of confrontation with ­Europe, but I think other countries only have to learn from Italy on anti-mafia legislation.”