10049 Row Over Fun Fair Electric Chair

From ANSA yesterday -

Visitors can watch death row 'prisoner' fry for a euro

(by Fiona Winward).

(ANSA) - Milan, July 23 - Children's and consumer rights associations on Wednesday called for a Milan fun fair to remove its new smash-hit simulation of a prisoner being executed by electric chair.

The mechanical attraction, imported from Los Angeles and successful elsewhere in Europe, has proved wildly popular since it was installed at the fun fair two weeks ago and visitors have already posted footage on YouTube.

By putting a euro coin into a slot machine, people can watch from behind a security cord as the life-size latex mannequin of a shirtless prisoner begins to convulse, then to fry and smoke, before finally slumping down dead in a faithful reproduction of a death row execution.

''This is crazy, culturally devastating,'' said Sergio D'Elia of the 'Nessuno Tocchi Caino' (Let Nobody Touch Cain) movement against capital punishment.

''It brings out the worst, most brutish aspects in people and destroys years of work by those who fight against the death penalty,'' he added.

''The way that it has been set up in the commercial context of a fun fair undermines the genuine horror of a social evil still present in the world today''.

Consumer protection association Codacons said it would send an official request to the Milan public prosecutor's office to have the attraction confiscated and to establish whether there were grounds to proceed with criminal prosecution.

''It's a horrifying game that must not be considered normal or acceptable, especially when minors of 14 are able to watch,'' Codacons said.

Parents' association MOIGE echoed concerns for children visiting the fun fair.

''We appeal to the authorities to immediately remove this horrendous spectacle, which is morally harmful for children and offensive for human dignity in general,'' said MOIGE Lombardy head Morena Saldarini.

Francesca Corso, Milan's provincial head of children's rights, described the game as 'sickening'.

''It crosses the limits of decency, respect and piety,'' she said. ''We reject this repellent game from America with disgust, proud of a history, culture and daily life that is free from the death penalty, weapons and violence''.

OWNER SAYS GAME POPULAR ACROSS EUROPE.

The owner of the attraction, Renzo Biancato, said polemics were misplaced and that it was ''just a game''.

''It's not a real man but a 'monster' who's paying for his crimes, like in a horror film,'' said Biancato.

''I've already seen it at fun fairs in France and Germany. In Belgium they tried to get rid of it but had to bring it back by popular demand,'' he added.

Biancato, who paid 5,000 dollars for the game, said if the attraction was banned from the fair he would be prepared to move it to a a more discreet location.

''But without any bans for children, please,'' he added.

Italy has long been active in the fight against capital punishment and was instrumental in the approval of a United Nations resolution for a global moratorium on the death penalty in December.

An Italian, the philosopher and politician Cesare Beccaria, made the first-ever case against the death penalty in a 1764 treatise, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was the first state to permanently abolish the death penalty in 1786.