Luciano Violante

Luciano Violante (born 25 September 1941) is an Italian judge and politician.

Biography

Violante was born in Dire Dawa. His father, a journalist and Communist, was forced to emigrate to Ethiopia by the fascist regime. His family was held by the British in an internment camp, where Violante was born and remained until 1943.

Graduated in jurisprudence at University of Bari in 1963, he joined the magistrature in 1966 and became professor of public law at University of Turin in 1970. Later he held the position of full professor at University of Camerino. He indicted Edgardo Sogno in 1974 for having planned the so-called Golpe bianco ("White coup"), but had to release him in 1978, declaring it impossible to prosecute him. From 1977 to 1979 he worked in the legislative office of the Ministry of Justice, primarily concerned with the struggle against terrorism. He was named investigative magistrate in Turin in 1979. In 1983 he became a professor of legal institutions and penal procedure and resigned from the magistrature.

Violante became a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1979 and was immediately elected to the Parliament. From 1980 to 1987 he was the PCI spokesman for legal policy. He then became the vice-president of the PCI parliamentary group. Following the split of the PCI in 1991, he entered the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). He was a member of the Inquiry into the Aldo Moro case, of the Antimafia Commission, the parliamentary committee for the security services, the commission for the reform of the penal code, the Justice Commission and the Council for the Regulation of the House of Deputies.