By IANS/AKI,
Milan : The man who assaulted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in December last year will be put under house arrest after a psychiatric assessment found him “mentally infirm”.
Massimo Tartaglia will also be allowed to attend a community psychiatric therapy centre as his lawyers had requested, judge Cristina Di Censo ruled Monday.
“We are very pleased at this news because it means our client can receive treatment,” said Tartaglia’s lawyers Daniela Insalato and Gian Marco Rubino.
A psychiatric assessment had shown Tartaglia was “mentally infirm” and entitled to treatment, they said.
Tartaglia has been held in preventive custody since his arrest Dec 13 after he hurled a small alabaster replica of Milan’s landmark cathedral on Berlusconi’s face during a political rally in the northern city.
Berlusconi’s nose and two teeth were broken in the attack, which took place as he shook hands with supporters and signed autographs in front of Milan’s gothic cathedral, the Duomo.
Tartaglia is currently being held in the psychiatric wing of San Carlo hospital.
Milan prosecutors in December ordered a detailed psychiatric assessment of Tartaglia, after a judge ruled there was a danger he could re-offend and also contaminate evidence against him during a judicial inquiry.
Berlusconi was hospitalised for four days following the attack and he spent two weeks recovering at his villa in Arcore near Milan.
The prime minister has forgiven Tartaglia, an electronic engineer with a history of mental illness, who apologised to Berlusconi for his “cowardly” act.