Judgment concerning Italy
In the case of Cesarano v. Italy the Court held that there had been no violation of the principle ‘no punishment without law’ and no violation of the right to a fair trial.
The case concerned the courts’ refusal of the applicant’s request to have his sentence of life imprisonment reduced to 30 years’ imprisonment, stemming, in his view, from his choice to be tried under what was known as a summary procedure, whereby the defendant waived certain procedural rights in exchange for a reduction of sentence.
The Court, while reiterating the principles set out in its case-law, found that the Italian courts had correctly applied the more lenient penalty in the applicant’s case, identifying it by comparing all the laws applicable within the timeframe running from the time he made his application for the summary procedure until his final conviction.