For the LAV, which has acted as Civil Party in this complex legal battle, this marks an unprecedented and epoch-making victory:
“Following the convictions of Green Hill executives passed by the Courts of first and second instance for “abuse and needless slaughter” which had already nailed the Veterinarian, Co-Manager and Director of the beagle facility to their penal liabilities with an overall sentence of 4 years, the suspension of business activities for two years and seizure of the dogs, the Supreme Court has definitively demolished the hypothesis based on the “disposable” dog-product for “laboratory use” concept by placing its seal on the correct jurisprudential interpretation of the Law for violations committed against so many dogs. This is an innovative and forward-looking interpretation which places our country at the forefront with regard to the defence of ethological needs, even in the case of dogs being bred and destined for experimental purposes - explains the LAV - In other words, according to this extremely important sentence and according to what had already been stipulated by the Court of Brescia in the two previous sentences, cruelty is unjustifiable even in a production context of high potential suffering as in a facility engaged in breeding dogs for experimental purposes. This orientation is in line with an increased public awareness of animal rights and also with the ban on breeding dogs for experimentation and other restrictions introduced in our country in 2014 with the Legislative Decree no. 26/2014 on animal experimentation: by means of this Decree and now, thanks to this sentence of the Supreme Court, Italy makes an authentic leap forward in the legal protection of animals”.