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[G8] diaz: 73 policemen charged

nessuno | 16.09.2003 15:31 | Repression | London | World

in english--> translation of a press-agency news about police, diaz and bolzaneto

GENOA - Today, the Genoa Prosecutor sent to 73 people notices that investigations against them been closed. The investigations in question were all part of a two-year inquiry into the events that took place in the Diaz and Pascoli schools and in the Bolzaneto police barracks during the G8 summit. From the Diaz and Pascoli schools, 30 people have charges against them; the defendants are police, penitentiary personnel, and medical staff.

According to the group of judges (Cardona Albini, Miniati, Patenti, Petruziello, Pinto and Zucca), among the 30 accused there are the most important chiefs of police (of the SCO, UCIGOS, and Mobile Units) who are accused of slander, false arrest, assault and battery, and abuse of authority. Those accused are those who took part in two closed meetings the night of Saturday, July 21, who were involved in the raids, and in the fabrication of evidence -- two molotovs that thad been brought from corso Italia into the school, and in an episode that -- according to the prosecutor -- involved cutting the jacket of agent Massimo Nucera (who is among the accused) to fabricate evidence of a stabbing. Among
those accused are the directors who, according to the judges' reconstruction of events, organized and took part in the Diaz School operation that ended with almost all of the 93 activists inside the school being injured.

Among those who received notice that the investigations against them had been closed, was Vincenzo Canterini, who was responsible for the first section of the Mobile Police Unit of Rome and for the seventh anti-riot unit created specifically for the G8, his second-in-command Michelangelo Fournier who was the squadron chief; Francesco Gratteri, then director of the SCO (Central Operations Service) and his second-in-command Gilberto Caldarozzi; Gianni Luperi who was then second-in-command to Arnaldo La Barbera, chief of the UCIGOS; Spartaco Mortola, ex-chief of the Genoa DIGOS; Pietro Troiani of the Rome Mobile Unit and his driver Michele Burgo; Massimilano Di Barnardini, Lorenzo Mugolo, and other direct subordinates to the assistant chief of police Andreassi (who was not given notice that any investigation against him had been closed); the director of the Mobile Unit of La Spezia Filippo Ferri; and the commissionar Fabo Ciccimara of the Naples Mobile Unit. For the raid on the Pascoli School, three police directors stand accused, among them the chief of the Mobile Unit of Nuoro, Salvatore Gava.

On the cover of their statement, the judges chose to put the photo of one of the 93 Diaz-School arrestees, Lena Zuhlke, a German woman who left the school on a stretcher. In ten pages, the group of judges draw information from two years of investigation and 42 interrogatory interviews, many of them repeated, and testimonies, including testimonies
drawn from the interrogations of the 93 demonstrators, who at the moment still stand accused of criminal association (the charge of resistance was dropped at the end of May).

For Bolzaneto, headquarters of the sixth Genoa Mobile Unit, which became the registration center for those arrested during the G8, seventy more notices were sent, announcing the end of the preliminary investigation phase. Today, 43 people received notice that investigations against them were closed, including the directors of the intermediary staff of the police and the penitentiary personnel, as well as the medical personnel. The charges are of abuse, infliction of injuries and wounds, verbal abuse, omission of official facts and omission of reports. Among others, Alessandro Perugini, then assistant chief of the Genoa DIGOS, and a large part of the medical personnel, including doctors Giacomo Toccadondi and Amoaldo Amenta. As of oday, the accused have 20 days to request that they be interrogated again. Then they could be truly sent to trial.

nessuno
- Homepage: http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/377310.php

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

73 or 30

16.09.2003 18:15

The headline says 73 police were charged; the text says 30, with the figure of 73 referring to the number of people against whom investigations have been closed...

Which is correct? Does the headline need to be amended?

Z


details

17.09.2003 00:18

the above text is a translation of a press-agency item - that's why it seems confusing.

in italy the notification that investigations have concluded like this is a procedural matter, ending one phase and clearing the way for court cases.

the figure of 30 is in direct relation to the raids on diaz / pascoli school buildings, the remaining (43) relate to Bolzaneto where people were taken.

the title is thus a little misleading but the whole disgraceful episode has become known simply as 'diaz' by many people.

that so many senior police are listed in relation to diaz / pascoli is a major victory.

imc'ista


another version

18.09.2003 11:39

Genoa, Italy:

where recently the post-G8 summit enquiry into the brutal police raids against the indy media centre, and diaz school building, on the night of saturday 21st july 2001, has entered a new phase.

After two years of interviews and interrogations the Inquiry has listed 73 police chiefs, officers and a small number of doctors as allegded accomplices in the beatings and subsequent torture of scores of anti-globalisation protestors, and others unlucky enough to be caught it the brutal raids.

See archive of material relating to the raid:
 http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2001/07/102064.php

IMC UK coverage of Genoa G8 2001:
 http://uk.indymedia.org/index.php3?resist=reports&stance=genoa

Among the 30 accused in relation to the actual raids are the most important chiefs of police who directed the raids - they stand accused of assault, slander, false arrest, and abuse of authority - and also of fabricating evidence -- two molotov cocktails, ie. petrol bombs - were brought into the school, and were later used by the authorities as justifictaion for the raid, they are also accused by the prosecutor of faking evidence of a stabbing, by doctoring the stab proof vest of another police officer.

Among those listed are:

Vincenzo Canterini, who was responsible for the seventh anti-riot unit created specifically for the G8 demonstrations, and the first section of the Mobile Police Unit of Rome, who led the raid - as well as his second-in-command Michelangelo Fournier

Francesco Gratteri, then Director of the SCO (Central Operations Service) and his second-in-command

Gianni Luperi who was then second-in-command to the La Barbera, chief of the UCIGOS police

Spartaco Mortola, the then chief of the Genoa DIGOS, the Political Police

Pietro Troiani of the Rome Mobile Unit

The director of the Mobile Unit of La Spezia

The commissionar Fabo Ciccimara of the Naples Mobile Unit

The chief of the Mobile Unit of Nuoro

Several direct subordinates to the assistant chief of police Andreassi
and three other police directors....

Out of just over 90 people arrested during the brutal raids two years ago, 62 people needed medical treatment, while 28 people, almost all with serious head injuries, needed hospitalisation. Three people were on the critical list with broken bones, ruptured lungs and other internal organ damage, including one indymedia uk volunteer.

Many more senior police figures are listed in relation to Bolzaneto, the military detention centre used for dealing with many of those arrested during the G8, and where all those not hospitalised during the raids were taken. While in detention many were then tortured, assaulted and brutalised, some being forced to sing facist songs during their ordeal. The charges against police and some medical staff in Bolzaneto include torture, infliction of injuries and wounds, verbal abuse, omission of official facts and omission of reports.

Last May, the judge Anna Vivaldi, decided to close the cases against the 93 victims of the raid, saying that there was simply no evidence against them. Further she said that evidence presented against them by the various police units and directors was unreliable and falsified. The proceedings against the police in italy is now expected to move into the next phase in around two weeks time...


justice!?