CasaPound takes its name from Ezra Pound, the US modernist poet who collaborated with Fascist Italy during World War II. The group was founded in December 2003 when activists occupied a state-owned building in Rome's Esquilino district

A court in Bari convicted 12 members of Italy's neo-fascist CasaPound group on Thursday for attempting to reorganise the banned Fascist Party in the first judicial ruling to recognise the movement's fascist nature

Five defendants received 18 months in prison, and seven others were sentenced to two years and six months after also being convicted of assault, according to the court. All 12 were barred from holding political office for five years

The case stems from an attack on 21 September 2018 in Bari's Libertà neighbourhood, when CasaPound members assaulted anti-fascist demonstrators returning from a protest against Matteo Salvini, then interior minister and leader of the far-right Lega or League party

The court cited violations of Articles 1 and 5 of the 1952 Scelba law, which prohibit the reorganisation of the dissolved Fascist Party and ban fascist demonstrations

The ruling specifically cited participation in "usual fascist demonstrations" and the use of "squadrista (blackshirts) methods as a tool for political participation"

The opposition has largely welcomed the move, with Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein calling on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government to dissolve CasaPound

"Now that there's a ruling that establishes it, the government has no choice but to do what we've been asking of it for a long time: dissolve CasaPound, dissolve neo-fascist organisations as laid out in the constitution"