Pressure on domestic occupations: proposed law by the Brothers of Italy against theft

The fight against illegal occupations is one of the main battles of the Fratelli d’Italia. Last February, after an eviction in popular cases in San Basilio, an eastern suburb of Rome, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced: “We have started to do what should have been done before.” In order to fully reaffirm the principle of legality, in addition to evictions, actions must also be taken at the regulatory level. That is why the leader of the Brothers of Italy group in the Chamber, Tommaso Foti, deposited a bill in the Justice Commission that increases the penalties, by up to nine years, for those who occupy buildings illegally. “It is a measure in favor of legality and the rule of law – explains Foti -. Today we have a real possibility of having a plan that will identify the critical areas”. guaranteed to those who occupy it. Objective to be achieved also with the introduction of arrest in flagrante delicto and the exclusion of the abbreviated procedure. In addition to Foti, it was signed by MPs Mauro Rotelli, Aldo Mattia, Stefano Benvenuti Gostoli, Massimo Milani, Dario Iaia, Gianni Lampis, Fabrizio Rossi and Rachele Silvestri.

The text recalls the numbers of a phenomenon of “bewildering dimensions”. According to official data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, between January and December 2021 “executive orders for the release of residential properties issued in Italy” totaled “38,163, with an increase, compared to 2020, of 17.29%”. In particular, «1,603 were issued due to the need of the lessor, 4,477 following the end of the lease contract, 32,083 due to arrears or other causes». Despite this, the evictions “really carried out” in the period in question amounted to “only 9,537, showing how the interests of the owners, public or private, were not in fact protected”. The legislators highlight how articles 633 and 634 of the penal code, in their current wording, do not produce a “dissuasive” effect. In fact, those convicted “may benefit from a conditional suspension of sentence”, or when the sentence exceeds two years from other “benefits that in fact exclude execution”. In addition, “in case of flagrante delicto, imprisonment or the adoption of precautionary measures is not permitted”. That is why the proposed law explains how «the current disciplinary system based on deflationary policies tends to leave the perpetrators of the crime essentially unpunished and, an even more serious circumstance, does not ensure adequate and sudden protection of the offended person, deprived of his own home “.

As if that were not enough, the removals of recent years have always been “outdated by the need not to jeopardize public safety, as well as the needs of squatters linked to particular conditions of vulnerability”. This will no longer be allowed. “Tolerating crime, committed by organized masses to the detriment of defenseless citizens, is a very strange way of protecting public order”, says the bill. To be modified will be art. 634 of the penal code which governs “the violent disturbance of possession of immovable property”. Until now, there was a risk of imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of 103 to 309 euros. With the new law, however, “whoever with violence against the person, with threats or with violence against things, deprives someone of the possession or possession of immovable things, or otherwise disturbs the possession or possession, is punished with imprisonment from 6 months to 4 years and with a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 euros». If a civil house is occupied, the penalty increases “from 5 to 9 years and a fine from 5,000 to 25,000 euros”. In case of flagrante delicto, the judicial police “intervene to prevent the crime from having major consequences”. Finally, the judicial authority orders the seizure within 48 hours, subsequently determining the eviction and immediate return of the goods.