An Italian judge who refuses to have crosses in his court room has been suspended from duty. The Italian judiciary's self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates, removed judge Luigi Tosti from his post and cut off his pay because of his "unjustifiable behaviour."
The decision, which reignited debate on crucifixes in public buildings, came after Tosti was convicted by a criminal court last month.
The court gave Tosti a seven-month suspended sentence for refusing to perform his allotted duties in the Marche town of Camerino. Judge Tosti first made headlines in April 2004 when he threatened to place symbols of his own Jewish faith, like the menorah candle-holder, in his Camerino court. He later changed his mind after the Union of Italian Muslims (UMI) went to Camerino to demonstrate their support for his initiative.
The UMI is headed by Adel Smith who for some time has been in the public spotlight for his campaign to have crosses removed from schools and hospitals. Judge Tosti insists that defendants have the constitutional right to refuse to be tried under the symbol of the cross.
The Constitution, he says, establishes the separation of Church and State and gives equal status to all religions.
This means that judges and lawyers can refuse to perform their duties under the symbol of the cross which would violate a defendant's right to a fair trial and counsel, he argues. However, the Constitutional Court ruled in December 2004 that crosses should stay in courts and classrooms. The Court did not give a juridical explanation for its ruling, and many felt it had washed its hands of a political hot potato.
If it had upheld the separation of Church and State, the high court would have sparked outraged reactions from conservatives who were already incensed when some schools dropped Christmas plays and creches to avoid hurting the feelings of Muslim children. The row - a reprise of another controversial case two years earlier - even prompted a reaction from Pope John Paul II, who stressed that Christmas cribs were a part of Italy's Catholic heritage.
Judge Tosti argues that there is no law which says a cross should be hung in the court room, only an article in the Rocco Code, the criminal code adopted under Fascism. The justice ministry, on the other hand, insists that the Rocco Code has never been abolished and therefore remains in force.
In 2003, Adel Smith won a court order for the removal of crosses at the school his children attended. The order was later reversed after a nationwide protest. Crucifixes are not mandatory but customary in Italy's public buildings.
Catholicism is not Italy's state religion and the separation of Church and State is set down by the postwar Constitution and mandated by a 1984 Concordat that ended most of the Catholic Church's privileges.
In practice, with Catholicism being such a part of Italy's cultural identity, school councils of teachers and parents decide whether they want crosses in the classroom. Similar arrangements are in place in other public buildings. Smith and his UMI have repeatedly stirred controversy with anti-Israel and anti-Catholic positions. He has called for crucifixes to be removed from public places, along with images of the Madonna and the saints.
He has also led a high-profile campaign for the removal or destruction of a priceless 15th-century fresco in Bologna's Basilica of San Petronio. The fresco takes its cue from Dante's Inferno by showing Islam's founder Mohammad being tortured in hell by demons.
Smith has called for the teaching of Dante to be suspended in schools with a large percentage of immigrant pupils.
The Union of Italian Islamic Communities (UCOII), which claims to represent 80% of the Muslims living in Italy, has consistently condemned the UMI, accusing it of fostering hostility towards Muslims.
