Abstract

This essay focuses on the recent debate on re-legalizing torture in the context of the so-called "war on terrorism". The A. tries to show the political incoherence and the theoretical impossibility of such an aim. The paper moves from an articulate definition of torture, which considers it as the cruel and extreme expression of the «intention of harming» in a structured system. It takes into account the different moral and political arguments supporting torture inside democratic States today. Through this argumentation method, it stresses their incompatibility with fundamental principles of constitutional democracy and, with regard to both the victims and the principle of justice, it defends the basic need of its adequate condemnation expressed by democratic societies and public opinion.