Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale italiana), No. 230/2021, 20 October 2021

Suspension from the office of mayor for those who have been convicted of certain offences.

Art. 24, Constitution
Art. 113, Constitution
Art. 11, paragraph 5, Legislative Decree no. 235, 31/12/2012

1. The Ordinary Court of Genoa has raised, with reference to Article 24 (right of defence) and Article 113 (judicial protection against acts of the Public Administration) of the Constitution, questions of constitutional legitimacy of Article 11, paragraphs 1, letter a), and 4, of the legislative decree of 31 December 2012, no. 235 (Consolidated text of the provisions on the incandidability and prohibition to hold elective and government offices following final sentences of conviction for non culpable crimes).

2. Substantive rules automatically linking suspension to a non-final criminal conviction for certain offences are not capable of violating, per se, by reason of the envisaged automatism, the right of defence, since they do not preclude the person concerned from asserting his right in court within the limits in which it is protected by substantive law.
(The Constitutional Court ruled in its judgment no. 230/2021 on certain provisions of Legislative Decree no. 235 of 2015 (Severino Law) concerning the suspension by right from the office of mayor for those who have been convicted by a non-final sentence for certain crimes).