Google’s global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, says he doesn’t plan to attend his criminal trial in Milan for allegedly violating the country’s data protection laws.

“I’m under clear instructions from my outside counsel not to set foot in Italy, at all,” Fleischer wrote on his blog, revived this week after a seven-month hiatus. “That’s a tragedy, since I love Italy.”

He also expects that his three co-defendants from Google likewise will remain out of the country, where they face up to three years’ imprisonment if convicted.

via MediaPost Publications.