Suicidio terapeutico e diritto penale. Un esercizio di analisi argomentativa

After an introductory section on argumentation in law in general, the essay outlines a five-steps model for argumentative analysis, centered on the notions of interpretive thesis, argumentative sequence, argumentative apparatus, and argumentative code. By way of example, it applies the model for analyzing the “Motion for dismissal” filed by the Office of the Public Prosecutor at the Tribunal of Milan, concerning the procedure against Marco Cappato, a member of the Italian Partito Radicale, for his alleged “assistance” to the suicide of Fabiano Antoniani, which took place at Pfäffikon (Switzerland), at the house of the association Dignitas. The Prosecutors deny the penal relevance of Mr Cappato’s behaviour, first, on the basis of a restrictive interpretation of “assistance to suicide”, second, on the basis of a constitutionally oriented reinterpretation of that very notion