Members of Italy's Communist parties were up in arms on Wednesday after a Catania court took a 16-year-old boy away from his mother, allegedly because he was a youth member of the Communist Refoundation Party (PDR).
Custody of the boy, identified as M.P., and his 11-year-old brother was granted to his father after social services told the court the boy ''visited places frequented by young people where the use of alcoholic and psychotropic substances is widespread''.
They described the young communists with whom the boy associated as ''extreme''.
The boy's mother was also blamed for hiding his irregular school attendance from her husband and for allowing the boy to stay out over night.
But Communist politicians jumped on the court decision as politically motivated.
PDR leader Paolo Ferrero said the decision was ''unacceptable'' and asked President Giorgio Napoletano to intervene in what he described as ''an extremely serious Constitutional violation''.
Orazio Licandro of the Italian Communist Party backed Ferrero's comments.
''Isn't Italy a democratic country? Are the Communists now an extremist organisation just because we don't have any seats in parliament?'' he asked, referring to the knock-out of Communist candidates in April's general elections.
''I think this matter just goes to show that being a Communist in southern Italy is difficult and dangerous,'' he added.
But the judge, Massimo Escher, shot down criticism of his decision, which he said was unconnected to the boy's political affiliations and based on the mother's lack of parenting skills.
Escher said the 16-year-old was living ''without rules'' and referred to the woman's ''difficulty in managing her son''.
The mother's lawyer, Mario Giarruso, said they were still trying to come to terms with the judge's decision.
''The boy does not take drugs, he hasn't committed crimes,'' he said.
The 16-year-old was also unhappy with the outcome, saying that his father ''does nothing but associate communists with drugs, alcohol and a wayward life''.
The court ruled that the boy's mother, who is a doctor, must pay her city council worker husband 200 euros a month in maintenance.
They also awarded the family home to the father.
