Scientific committee

Rita Bernardini

President — Hands Off Cain (Nessuno tocchi Caino) • Former Member of the Italian Parliament

Rita Bernardini is the president of Nessuno tocchi Caino (Hands Off Cain), an association campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty, and a former member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (16th legislature).

A member of the Radical Party since 1974, she worked at Radio Radicale, where she also served as deputy director. In the 1980s and 1990s she coordinated several Radical referendum campaigns.

She was Secretary of Radicali Italiani for two terms, from 2006 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2015, and a member of parliament in the 16th legislature, elected in 2008 on the Democratic Party's lists as a Radical. During her term in parliament she worked above all on justice and prison conditions.

She is known for her nonviolent acts of civil disobedience in support of the legalisation of cannabis and for her many hunger strikes against prison overcrowding; the longest, in 2020, lasted 35 days. In 2025 the Union of Italian Criminal Bar Associations awarded her the «Riccardo Polidoro» prize for her commitment to defending the dignity of people in prison.

Background

President of Hands Off Cain (Nessuno tocchi Caino)Abolition of the death penalty
Coordinator of the working group «Family ties and serving sentences close to home»General States on the Execution of Sentences, Ministry of Justice · 2015
Member of the Commission drafting proposals on prison mattersMinistry of Justice · 2013
Member of Parliament in the 16th legislatureChamber of Deputies, Justice Committee · 2008–2013
Secretary of Radicali Italiani2006–2008 and 2013–2015