Milan Tribunal convicts Volonte of corruption §

The judgment confirmed that the bribes were paid to influence the PACE vote on the Strasser Report, the principal symbolic outcome of the caviar diplomacy programme. The Court found that Volonte had received the funds in exchange for political acts within his rapporteur role. Subsequent appellate proceedings reduced the sentence on procedural grounds while sustaining the corruption finding. The case anchors the legal-corruption dimension of the wider Aliyev-regime relationship with European institutions.