Tokens: In
the
first
place
,
the
Constitutional
Court
was
not
convinced
that
the
two
referring
courts
had
read
Varvara
correctly
,
by
stating
that
it
required
a
“
conviction
”
for
an
offence
that
had
to
be
“
criminal
”
under
domestic
law
.
The
Constitutional
Court
noted[23
]
that
such
an
interpretation
would
be
in
conflict
,
not
only
with
the
Italian
Constitution
(
as
it
would
limit
the
legislature
’s
discretion
to
decide
whether
a
given
conduct
should
be
“
sanctioned
”
by
criminal
law
or
by
administrative
law
)
,
but
also
with
the
case
-
law
of
the
European
Court
(
which
accepted
that
“
penalties
”
,
in
the
sense
of
the
Convention
,
could
be
imposed
by
an
administrative
authority
,
without
a
formal
declaration
of
guilt
by
a
criminal
court
)
.
Moreover
,
and
more
importantly
,
the
Constitutional
Court
indicated
that
it
was
possible
to
interpret
Varvara
differently
,
namely
by
considering
that
it
only
required
that
“
liability
”
be
established
,
in
whatever
form
(
a
“
conviction
”
being
one
of
several
possible
forms
)
.
As
a
consequence
,
it
concluded
that
“
as
things
currently
stand
”
–
that
is
,
until
the
Grand
Chamber
ruled
in
G.I.E.M.
and
Others
,
one
could
not
unequivocally
interpret
Varvara
as
implying
that
confiscation
was
possible
only
where
there
was
a
“
conviction
”
for
the
offence
of
illegal
transformation
of
land
.
Since
it
was
possible
to
read
Varvara
differently
,
the
Constitutional
Court
took
the
view
that
the
domestic
courts
should
adopt
that
interpretation
,
which
was
in
line
with
the
European
Court
’s
case
-
law
and
which
was
compatible
with
the
Italian
Constitution).[24
]
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