Italian Women Decry Court Ruling

ROME — Italian women Thursday condemned a court ruling that said a man can occasionally hit his wife, but the victim whose case sparked the controversy said she was glad her “model husband” had been cleared.

The ruling Wednesday by Italy’s highest appeals court provoked protests from prominent women politicians, academics and lawyers who said it was “diabolical,” “scandalous” and “wrong.”

“This ruling is dangerous because it legitimizes violence,” said right-wing member of Parliament Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of former Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

The Court of Cassation annulled an eight-month sentence given to a man for hitting his wife during a fight in their home in the town of Capaci, near Palermo, the capital of Sicily. She was treated at a hospital after the incident.

The court sent the case back to the lower court for retrial, saying the husband’s acts did not amount to abuse because his “occasional episodes” of wife-beating were “interspersed with moments of harmony between the couple.”