Hefty fines and even prison time are envisaged under a new law setting stricter rules against violence against animals in Italy.
The bill's first signatory was centre-right Noi Moderati (We Moderates) MP Michela Vittoria Brambilla, who has been campaigning for years for animal rights and firmer punishment for those who mistreat, harm or kill them.
The bill that became law with a show of hands vote, dictates new rules in the relationships between animals and humans.
With a fundamental novelty: from now on animals become subjects under the law.
Among the changes introduced to the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code is in fact one that specifies how the objective is to "directly protect animals" and no longer the "feeling for animals" on the part of human beings.
