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Sat 10 Oct 2007Judge criticised for Sardinian rape rulingITALY:He is a Sardinian - ergo he is entitled to a light sentence for rape. Sardinian public figures and politicians reacted with outrage yesterday to a German court ruling which effectively stated that an Italian defendant's Sardinian origins had to be taken into account when it came to sentencing him for rape.The Sardinian in question is Maurizio Pusceddu (29), sentenced one year ago to six years' imprisonment in a court in Buckeburg, Germany. During his trial, Pusceddu had admitted to sequestering, raping, torturing and humiliating his Lithuanian girlfriend over a three-week period, merely because he suspected that she had betrayed him with another man.