Raffaele Lombardo ; (born 29 October 1950, in Catania) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

politician who was President of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

with the

Movement for the Autonomies The Movement for Autonomy ( it, Movimento per l'Autonomia, MpA) is a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose founder and leader is Raffaele Lombardo, demands economic development, greater autono ...

and has sat on the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ...

. In 2005, he split off from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) to form the autonomist Sicilian-based

Movement for Autonomy The Movement for Autonomy ( it, Movimento per l'Autonomia, MpA) is a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose founder and leader is Raffaele Lombardo, demands economic development, greater autono ...

, after he had accused the UDC leadership of being too centralist. In 2008, he was elected as President of Sicily, obtaining over 65% of the regional votes and defeating Anna Finocchiaro of the Democratic Party. On 31 July 2012, he resigned from the presidency because he was under investigation for external contribution with mafia and pork-barrelling, as it appears that he had relationships with some figure of Cosa Nostra. Nevertheless, in the following elections he managed to have his 23 years old son Toti elected in the Sicilian Regional Assembly. On 19 February 2014, he was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for Mafia association, but in 2022 he was acquitted in the second appeal trial.

Education

* 1968: Secondary school-leaving certificate in classical subjects * Graduate in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and surgery * Specialisation in

forensic Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...

psychiatry * Private practice * 1977: Provincial Secretary of the Catania Youth DC * Regional Secretary of the Centre Democrats (CCD) for Sicily * Member of Catania

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

for eight years * Several terms as Catania

lor with responsibility for budget, planning, health, cultural heritage, youth issues, taxation

Career

* 1986-1994: Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly with Christian Democracy * 1991-1992: Assessor for Local Authorities of the Sicilian Regional Executive (resigned for enquiries) * 1999-2008:

with CCD * 2003-2008: President of the

Province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

with UDC * 2008-2012: President of Sicily with MPA

References

External links

Raffaele Lombardo's official website

European Parliament biography of Raffaele Lombardo
* 1950 births Living people Presidents of Sicily Politicians from Catania MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 Movement for the Autonomies MEPs Movement for the Autonomies politicians MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Christian Democratic Centre politicians Members of the Sicilian Regional Assembly Presidents of the Province of Catania Heads of government who were later imprisoned Italian politicians convicted of crimes Criminals from Sicily {{Italy-MEP-stub