A judge in central Italy has been given a one-year suspended jail sentence for repeatedly refusing to hear cases in courtrooms that display a crucifix, writes Robert Mickens.

A tribunal in the city of L'Aquila last week also ruled that 59-year-old Judge Luigi Tosti would be barred from holding public office for year.

It was the second time that the anti-crucifix judge has received a suspended sentence. In November 2005 a court sentenced him to seven months in jail.

Both penalties were for Judge Tosti's refusal to try cases on three different days in July 2005. The judge suspended the trials because the crucifix, a standard fixture in most Italian courts, was not removed from the room. Judge Tosti, who is Jewish, has argued against what he calls the Vatican's dominance of Italian public and secular life.

Pope Benedict XVI has insisted that crucifixes be displayed "on public buildings". In a homily on 15 August 2005 he said pointedly that "only if God is present do we have an orientation, a common direction; otherwise, disputes become impossible to settle".