An appeals court in Bologna has halved the sentence of an Italian man who murdered his girlfriend, citing a "passionate storm" of jealousy as one of the mitigating factors.
Michele Castaldo will only serve 15 years of a 30-year sentence for the killing of Olga Matei in 2016.
The controversial reasoning for the reduction sparked anger and renewed calls for the passage of legislation to protect women from violence.
“(The ruling) is a dangerous precedent that represents a worrying return to the past,” warned Valeria Valente, a centre-left senator who presides over a newly appointed Senate femicide commission.
Mr Castaldo, 57, was convicted in 2017 of murdering Ms. Matei, 46, on October 5, 2016 in the Adriatic seaside town of Riccione, where she worked as a shop clerk.
They had been dating for just a month when Mr. Castaldo said he “lost his mind” upon learning she wanted to leave him. “I told her she was supposed to be mine and no-one else’s,” he said in the trial of first instance. “Then I grabbed her by the neck and strangled her.”
Mr Castaldo then attempted suicide by drinking wine laced with aspirin, sending his fortune-teller a text accusing her of inaccurate predictions. “Get a new job. I’ve killed her,” he told the woman, who alerted authorities.
But just two years after receiving a 30-year sentence, appeals judges noted he had accepted some responsibility for his crime, which is grounds for a reduction in fast-track trials.
Judges cited a combination of extenuating circumstances including that he confessed and had since sought counseling.
Giulia Bongiorno, a well-known lawyer who has fought for tougher domestic violence laws and now serves as League-appointed Civil Service Minister in the current coalition government, said the “archaic” wording of the reasoning sent shivers down her spine.
“I have no nostalgia for crimes of honour,” she said, referencing the law abolished in 1981 that allowed reduced sentences for crimes committed in a fit of rage due to sense of dishonor from marital infidelity.
More than 3000 Italian women have been murdered in the past two decades.