Italian fined for spitting on his dead mother

An Italian who spat on the corpse of his mother for his unhappy childhood has been fined by a Swiss court.

GENEVA, January 5, 2010 (AFP) - An Italian who spat on the corpse of his mother for his unhappy childhood has been fined by a Swiss court for "disturbing the peace of the dead", Swiss news wire ATS reported Tuesday.

The man, who had spat on his dead mother at a hospital morgue in northern Switzerland, had told the court that he did it out of hate for his mother, who had often hit him while he was a child.

However, Swiss laws prohibit people from "profaning ... a human cadavre".

The district court of Zurich therefore fined the 31-year-old man 400 francs (270 euros) and sentenced him to a suspended term of 180 days at 90 francs a day.

Under Swiss rules, such terms allow the convict to choose to either to spend the relevant period in jail, or pay up the specified sum.

In this case, given the suspended term of five years, the Italian could avoid paying the fine or going to jail altogether if he proves to be on good behaviour during the probation period of five years.