Court says military police can't have lovers

Carabinieri military police patrol the entrance of the ''Olga Rovere'' nursery school at Rignano Flaminio, 25 miles north of Rome, May 11, 2007.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's highest court has ruled that the nation's paramilitary police, the Carabinieri, must not have extra-marital affairs to avoid sullying the force's name.

The ruling stemmed from one Carabiniere's appeal against a lower court ruling sentencing him to four months in jail for insulting and threatening to throw a desk at his boss, who had asked the policeman to break off an affair with a married woman.

Italy's Court of Cassation agreed that any affair is a private matter, but noted that the military police were called to "exemplary conduct and could not bring discredit to the armed forces with extra-marital relationships."

The Carabinieri, Italy's gendarmerie, are the most prominent of several national police forces. Their motto is "Faithful through the centuries."

(Reporting by Deepa Babington; Editing by Giles Elgood)