Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Final sentences for police forces involved in Diaz school butchery at 2001 G8 su

Italy Calling | 08.07.2012 21:06 | World

After a 9-hour debate, the Italian Supreme Court has issued its final sentence against the 25 defendants – policemen and heads of security forces – responsible for the violence against the activists sleeping in the Diaz school during the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. Result: most of the charges have been declared time-barred, leading to impunity for all the people involved. In the meantime, 10 activists are facing a total of 100 years of jail between themselves for crimes of “devastation and looting”.



Most of the criminal offences with which officers had been charged, including those of serious bodily harm, have been declared time-barred and therefore void. Torture is not even a crime on the books of Italy’s domestic legislation, therefore officers have never been charged with it. The only charge miraculously within the statute of limitations – that of fabricating false evidence – won’t have any major consequences thanks to the prison amnesty approved in 2006 for this type of crimes.

The only measure taken against the defendants (and whether it will actually happen or not is another matter) is a disqualification from public offices for a period of 5 years, which in theory should mean the immediate removal of all officers involved from their present jobs. Curiously, though, the same sanction hasn’t been applied to the squad leaders who led the school raid: once again, it would seem because of the statute of limitations.

In the meantime, the executives who directed the whole operation have, over the years, being promoted within the police forces, the Secret Services and other State forces: for example, the infamous Gianni De Gennaro, back then head of the police, has been made under-secretary to the Council of Ministers by the present Monti government. De Gennaro was definitively acquitted of all charges since “the fact does not subsist” – that is, in legal Italian terms, there isn’t any evidence that what he’s accused of actually happened. Now, don’t go saying the Italian state doesn’t know how to reward its most loyal workers.

Heidi Giuliani, mother of Carlo Giuliani, commented that “this justice is not complete, and more people were responsible, I’m talking about the then head of the police being acquitted, and the lack of trials for my son’s death”.

Most media reacted positively to the news, stating that justice had been finally done and everyone should live happily ever after. In a little while everyone will start saying that yes, maybe a couple of cops took it too far, but that the protesters weren’t innocent either, and that maybe the violence was only an excessive but justified reaction to the protesters’ violence. You’ve heard it all before…

So, while all the state forces go back home with a pat on their backs and a “Don’t do it again, son, it’s cost me money to get you of this mess”, 10 people who were among the protesters are facing the possibility of spending a good part of their lives in jail for crimes of “devastation and looting”, a legal legacy of the Fascist regime and one of the most serious charge in terms of public order in Italy.

Based on an article published on Contropiano, original here.

Background info: Amnesty International’s report on the G8.

For the support campaign to the G8 defendants, check my previous article on the topic and spread the call-out far and wide.

For a very personal and honest account of those days read my translation of fellow blogger psikosomatica‘s article here.

P.S. FOR FUNCTIONING LINKS GO TO  http://italycalling.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/final-sentences-for-police-forces-involved-in-diaz-school-butchery-at-2001-g8-summit-in-genoa/

Italy Calling
- Homepage: http://italycalling.wordpress.com

Comments

Hide the following comment

are we or aren't we?

11.07.2012 10:03

as anarchists we have been patient and let the transparent toothless apparatus of the state play out its public fantasies

now with stealth and silence is the moment to act

we know who

anarchisticism


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech