Italy Wrong To Stop Suit Against Bossi

Cofferati and CGIL were also trying to sue Il Messaggero, but once Bossi was declared immune those proceedings became pointless.

Europe's human rights court said on Tuesday that Italy had deprived a trade union leader of his right to a fair hearing because he was unable to seek redress after being likened to far-left Red Brigade guerrillas.

The case stems from a 2002 interview in which Umberto Bossi, then a minister and member of parliament, linked the murder of a government consultant by the Red Brigades to social tensions he alleged were being stoked by the CGIL labour union.

Sergio Cofferati, then general secretary of the CGIL, launched legal action against Bossi, the populist leader of the far-right Northern League party, who made the comments in an interview published by the newspaper Il Messaggero.

But the Chamber of Deputies declared that Bossi had immunity because he spoke at a time when there was an ongoing parliamentary debate on the killing of the consultant, Marco Biagi.

Cofferati and CGIL were also trying to sue Il Messaggero, but once Bossi was declared immune those proceedings became pointless. Instead the union leader took his complaints to the European Court of Human Rights, which is based in France.

"The Court observed that ... the civil proceedings brought against Mr Bossi had been paralysed and the applicants had been deprived of the possibility of obtaining any form of compensation, which had resulted in an interference with their right of access to a court," it said in a statement.

"Mr Bossi's statements had been made outside the context of the parliamentary debate on the murder of Marco Biagi and had therefore no clear connection with a parliamentary activity," it said.

It awarded Cofferati and CGIL 8,000 euros ($10,000) each in damages.