The decision apparently came down to whether lying is an appropriate way for a woman to protect her honor. BBC reports that the answer, according to Italy’s highest appeals court, is yes:

…the Court of Cassation found that having a lover was a circumstance that damaged the honour of the person among family and friends.

Lying about it, therefore, was permitted, even in a judicial investigation.

It is not yet clear whether the ruling might also apply to men who have secret mistresses.

Surely it does not, as a mistress in Italy is unlikely to be classified as a circumstance damaging the honor of a man among family and friends. Am I right? It would seem the court has an interest in enabling women to commit adultery. The BBC goes on to question the impartiality and perhaps even the sensibility of the Italian judges:

The Court of Cassation, which is largely staffed by elderly male appeal judges, has in the past issued a number of controversial judgements.

It once gave a ruling, later rescinded after protests from women’s groups, that a woman could not be raped by definition if she was wearing tight jeans, since the jeans could only be removed with her consent.

In the context of security, that decision would never fly although it does remind me of hackers who think that someone with a vulnerable system deserves to have it probed.