The Roman salute would not be a crime in Italy if it did not threaten the return of fascism.

The High Court had to rule on the status of eight people who were prosecuted A neo-fascist commemoration in Milan about eight years ago

, The subjects were acquitted in the first degree in 2020 based on the 1952 Scelba law, but convicted in the second degree in 2022 based on the 1993 Mancino law.

The path chosen by the Supreme Court, as shown in the summaries provided to the media and reported by the Italian press, is quite restrictive. It is not easy to prove a violation of the 1952 law that imposes a constitutional ban on the return of the fascist party, so the memorial display is only a crime. Is the risk of this happening “substantial”,

However, it recognizes that “under certain conditions” it may be a classified offense in the Mancino statute, which prohibits “The external or general manifestations of organizations, associations, movements or groups”

Which incites discrimination on the basis of race or nationality.

The decision comes at a time when there is a national debate over such signs after nearly a thousand people gathered on the night of January 7. In front of the Roman headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI)A party formed by supporters of dictator Benito Mussolini after World War II, and some of them will salute.

Wearing black shirts and shouting “Comrades, appear!” Commemorates the murder of two teenage members of the youth wing of the MSI on January 7, 1978, a crime committed by the extreme left, he gave a fascist salute

Something that was condemned by Italy’s Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi.