Rita Bernardini
Rita Bernardini | |
|---|---|
 Bernardini in 2014 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 29 April 2008 – 14 March 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 December 1952 Rome, Italy |
| Party | PR (1975–present) ALC (2002–present) |
Other political affiliations | LP (1995–2013) PD (2008–2013) RI (2003–2016) |
Rita Bernardini (born 27 December 1952) is an Italian politician and nonviolent activist. A longtime member of the Radical Party of Marco Pannella, she served twice as national secretary of the Italian Radicals (2006–2008 and 2013–2015) and was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013. She is the president of Hands Off Cain, a Radical association campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty and for humane prison conditions, and is known for her repeated hunger strikes against prison overcrowding in Italy.
Career
Bernardini joined the Radical Party in 1975 and worked at the party's radio station, Radio Radicale, from 1983 until the early 1990s, ultimately as deputy director.[1]
She was national secretary of the Italian Radicals from 2006 to 2008[2] and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies at the 2008 Italian general election on the Democratic Party list, serving until 2013 as a member of the Justice Committee.[3] In February 2010 she held a hunger strike over prison conditions and the transparency of parliamentary expenditure.[4]
In November 2013 she was again elected secretary of the Italian Radicals, on Pannella's proposal, serving until November 2015.[5] In 2015 she was appointed to coordinate the working group of the Italian Ministry of Justice's States General on Penal Execution devoted to prisoners' right to family and emotional ties.[1]
Prisoners' rights activism
On 30 January 2019 Bernardini delivered to Pope Francis, in a public audience, letters and signatures from almost 20,000 Italian prisoners.[1] In July 2019 she was questioned by the Carabinieri after the seizure of 32 cannabis plants she was growing on her terrace as an act of civil disobedience in favour of the legalisation of medical cannabis.[6]
In November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she began a 35-day hunger strike calling for measures against prison overcrowding; the initiative was joined by thousands of citizens and publicly supported by writers and intellectuals including Roberto Saviano, Sandro Veronesi and Adriano Sofri, and was suspended after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte agreed to meet her.[7][8]
Bernardini is the president of Hands Off Cain (Nessuno tocchi Caino): she was confirmed in the office at the association's eighth congress, held in December 2019 in the Opera prison near Milan,[9] and again at the eleventh congress, held in December 2025 at the Beccaria juvenile prison in Milan.[10] In this role she has continued hunger and thirst strikes against prison overcrowding[11] and has been heard by the Chamber of Deputies on early release measures.[12]
At the 2024 European Parliament election in Italy she headed the United States of Europe list in the Insular Italy constituency, conducting the electoral campaign while on a 28-day hunger strike against prison overcrowding; she obtained 3,883 preference votes, with the list falling short of the electoral threshold.[13][14]
In June 2025 she received the "Riccardo Polidoro" prize of the Union of Italian Penal Chambers, awarded unanimously "in defence of the dignity and hope of prisoners".[1][15] In May 2026 she joined the scientific committee of the Italian Movement for Prisoners' Rights (Movimento Italiano Diritti Detenuti), a Milan-based non-profit association founded by Giulia Troncatti to protect the rights of detained persons and support their social reintegration.[16][17]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Assegnato a Rita Bernardini il Premio In difesa della dignità e della speranza dei detenuti "Riccardo Polidoro"" (in Italian). Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane. 21 May 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Partito radicale". Treccani. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ↑ "BERNARDINI Rita - PD". Camera dei Deputati. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ↑ Alberto Custodero (17 February 2010). "Gli affitti record della Camera 54 milioni l'anno per uffici e segreterie". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Radicali, Bernardini eletta segretaria". La Stampa. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ↑ "La radicale Rita Bernardini in caserma dopo sequestro di cannabis". Il Messaggero (in Italian). 17 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Carceri, Bernardini: "Terzo giorno sciopero fame, serve amnistia"". Adnkronos (in Italian). 13 November 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ ""Fissato incontro con Conte sulle carceri": dopo 35 giorni Bernardini sospende il digiuno". HuffPost Italia (in Italian). 15 December 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Carcere. Concluso VIII Congresso di Nessuno tocchi Caino-Spes contra Spem nel carcere di Opera" (in Italian). Hands Off Cain. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Milano, congresso di Nessuno tocchi Caino: raggiunti 3.000 iscritti, confermato l'impegno per la moratoria universale". Il Tabloid (in Italian). 21 December 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Rita Bernardini sospende lo sciopero della fame dopo l'apertura di La Russa sulla riduzione della pena per i detenuti". Il Dubbio (in Italian). Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Giustizia, audizione Rita Bernardini su concessione liberazione anticipata" (in Italian). Chamber of Deputies. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Bonino capolista per Stati Uniti d'Europa nel Nord ovest" (in Italian). ANSA. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Eligendo: Stati Uniti d'Europa – Scrutini" (in Italian). Italian Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "A Rita Bernardini il premio "In difesa della dignità e della speranza dei detenuti Riccardo Polidoro"" (in Italian). Ristretti Orizzonti. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Nasce il Movimento Italiano Diritti Detenuti: gli obiettivi e i servizi offerti ai carcerati". Il Riformista (in Italian). 13 May 2026. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Carceri, nasce il Movimento italiano diritti detenuti". askanews (in Italian). 13 May 2026. Retrieved 22 July 2026.