Guardian Unlimited: Judge backs ‘buffoon’ attack on Berlusconi

“Italy’s highest appeals court has ruled that calling the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi a “buffoon” can be actively useful for society.

Overruling the conviction of a freelance journalist who hurled insults at the then premier as he left a court three years ago, the court of cassation acknowledged that the man had levelled “strong criticism”. But Judge Alfonso Amato argued in a written judgment that it was “socially useful in terms of the interest of society as a whole in the expression of opinions”.”

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Law, Freedom of Expression. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.