ROME – Italy's Senate has killed a proposed law that was hotly contested for maintaining a jail penalty against journalists convicted of libel, while imposing only fines for their editors.
The proposal was defeated Monday by a 123-29 vote.
The Italian journalists union called off a national strike Monday but was demonstrating to press their campaign to decriminalize libel altogether.
Parliament's efforts to do just that were circumvented by right-wing lawmakers' apparent moves to protect an editor who was sentenced to 14 months for libel.
They changed the draft to impose a one-year jail sentence on journalists while lowering the penalty for editors to €50,000 ($65,000) — sparking protests from Italian journalists and Reporters Without Borders.
The rarely enforced Fascist-era law includes a six-year sentence.
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