Italy in shock after man sets himself alight over tax evasion trial

Italy is in shock today after a builder on trial for tax evasion set himself on fire in his car in Bologna, following an intense campaign by the government to clamp down on evaders.

Giuseppe C., 58, wrote suicide notes to the tax agency, friends and his wife before setting himself alight yesterday morning. He was rescued by a traffic officer and taken to the severe burns unit in Parma, Italian media said.

"It's a terrible sign of desperation, a single case of distress which sums up a moment of great difficulty," former premier Romano Prodi said.

"I hope he survives, but he is in a very serious state," he said.

Giuseppe C. had been due to attend the first hearing of a court case against him for 104,000 euros ($138,000) in unpaid tax and fines dating from 2007.

"On fire for tax: the taxman is killing the country," read the front page headline of the right-wing Il Giornale daily, while the Repubblica wrote of "the tragedy of a handyman strangled by the economic crisis."

The builder had set himself alight in his Fiat Punto in the car park of a former tax agency office. In his note, extracts of which were published in the Corriere della Sera newspaper, he told the agency "I've always paid my taxes."

He asked for forgiveness and told them to "leave my wife alone."

His wife Tiziana told the Corriere that she "had never seen any sign of money problems. He didn't want to trouble me with it..."

In his letter to her, Giuseppe C. had written: "I wanted to say goodbye, but you were sleeping so peacefully. Today is a terrible day."

Prime Minister Mario Monti's government has launched a wide-ranging crackdown on tax evasion as Italy struggles under a vast debt mountain.

Giuseppe C. is not the first person to have attempted suicide for tax reasons, but he is the first to have set himself alight in Italy.