Italian lawyers are sounding the alarm over the continued exclusion of the public and the press from criminal hearings, despite the near total lifting of Italy's coronavirus lockdown. All trials were temporarily halted early March but criminal trials with detained defendants were allowed to resume behind closed doors mid-April. The emergency government decree authorises judges to decide whether the public or media is allowed into court for each case. Excluding the press beyond the extreme emergency is a dangerous precedent for Italy whose constitution recognises that "the press may not be subjected to any authorisation or censorship".   

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