Cases – International Terrorism: Further Developments in the Case-Law of the Supreme Court of Cassation

In 2021, the Supreme Court of Cassation returned once again to the issue of defining the offence of participation in international terrorist associations or for subverting the democratic order, and the offences of instigation to commit crimes and glorification of crime, as per Articles 270–bis and 414 of the Criminal Code, respectively. Indeed, the issue of the correct legal classification of these different offences constitutes the subject of the three judgments examined, namely Judgment No. 5471 of 17 November 2020, Judgment No. 8891 of 18 December 2020 and Judgment No. 11581 of 27 January 2021. With regards to the offence ‘participation in international terrorist associations’, it should be noted that the interpretations adopted by the Court of Cassation have not always been unambiguous, resulting over time in the consolidation of two different orientations. This lack of cohesion were largely due to the difficulty of framing ISIS, since the peculiar, distinguishing characteristics of this organisation make participation in it a somewhat novel phenomenon compared to other forms of participation in organised crime groups.