Popular execution attraction under fire

MILAN, Italy, July 24 (UPI) -- Consumer and children's rights groups said they asked an Italian fun fair to get rid of a popular new attraction that mimics an electric chair execution.

The mechanical "game," delivered from Los Angeles, has become a main attraction at a fair in Milan, Italy, since it opened earlier this month, ANSA reported Wednesday.

The attraction allows patrons to look on as a full-size mannequin starts to shake and smoke before slouching over in an accurate representation of an electric chair execution, ANSA said.

"It brings out the worst, most brutish aspects in people and destroys years of work by those who fight against the death penalty,'' said Sergio D'Elia of the Nessuno Tocchi Caino (Let Nobody Touch Cain) movement, which opposes capital punishment.

The attraction's owner, Renzo Biancato, insists it is "just a game."

''It's not a real man but a 'monster' who's paying for his crimes, like in a horror film,'' Biancato said, adding that the attraction is already popular in other European countries.

He said he would take the game to another venue if he was forced to leave the fair.