Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, Criminal Section III, No. 29613/18, 12 July 2018

Relevance of cultural factors as a justification for crimes against family members.

Art. 609 bis, art. 609 ter Italian criminal code

In assessing the awareness of the criminal unlawfulness of the conduct, a rigorous balance must be made between the foundamental right not to repudiate the own cultural, religious and social traditions and the values ​​offended or endangered by the criminal behavior. However, no form of respect for the cultural traditions of the foreign citizen can ever lead to the abdication of the penal system of punishment for the offence of fundamental rights, in particular when it comes to protecting the psycho-physical integrity of the minor.

(Case relating to acts qualified, by the contested judgment, as gestures of affection and paternal pride towards the male child, absolutely devoid of any implication of a sexual nature and indicated as responding to the traditions of inland rural areas of Albania. The same acts were instead qualified as "sexual" in the judgment of legitimacy and deemed as a form of sexual violence)