(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 24 - Ilaria Cucchi, a member of the opposition Italian Left-Green Alliance who lost her brother to police brutality in 2009, on Friday appealed to President Sergio Mattarella to not sign into law a bill presented by the ruling rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party that would eliminate the crime of torture from the Italian penal code.
    Senator Cucchi, who was elected to parliament for the first time in September and whose surveyor brother Stefano died after a police beating upon being picked on a minor drugs charge, cited the suspension of 23 Biella Prison officers for 'torturing' three inmates Thursday as the latest episode militating in favour of keeping the crime on the books.
    "In the very same hours," she said, "we learn of the assignment to the Lower House justice committee of a bill by Fdi that wants to repeal torture.
    "This is a very serious fact. To claim that torture does not exist in Italy is a lie. Pretending nothing (is happening) and looking the other way is already a violation of human rights and I know this because I have experienced it first-hand.
    "More than one judge, before the introduction of this law, found themselves unable to proceed because the law did not exist.
    "We fought for its introduction and now I make an appeal to all political forces, especially to the President of the Republic: hands off the law that punishes torture.
    "Those who are afraid of the crime of torture legitimise torture. (ANSA).