ITALIAN JUDGES RULED THAT PUBLIC MASTURBATION OUT OF THE PRESENCE OF MINORS,IS NO LONGER A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.

                        According to sources,the decision came down from the Italian Supreme Court ''La Corte di Cassazione'' in the case of a 69 year old man,identified only as 'PL',who was caught masturbating in Catania,a city on Sicily's east coast.The man was convicted in May 2015nafter he performed the act in front of students on the University of Catania campus,according to documents filed with Supreme Court.The man was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 3,200 Euro.However,the defendant's lawyer appealed the case to the country's highest court,which ruled on the side of the accused in June but only just made its decision public.Judges ruled that public masturbation out of the presence of minors is no longer deemed criminal; conduct due to a change in the law last year,which decriminalized the act.Though Public Masturbation remains a criminal offence in many other parts of the world,the Italian court overturned ''PLS 's'' sentence.The case has been sent back to local courts in Catania to determine exactly what the administrative fine,between 5,651 and 30,000 euro will be.