Genoa: The Evidence
by Laura Tartarini
GENOA: JULY 2001
Carlo Giuliani is dead and his family and friends grieve for his loss. His death by the bullet from a police gun and crushing by an armoured Carabinieri armoured car was the barbarian response to the G8 protests in Genoa, Italy between July 20 and 21, 2001. Those who were in Genoa and those around the world who were aware of events do not need to know more than that. The publication of the Italian Parliamentary Commission into this tragedy is not relevationary. These are the crucial points made by the commission.
The disorders in Via Tolemaide were provoked by the demonstrators' assault on the Carabinieri, forcing them to charge, and the situation became more dangerous as the hours passed. Piazza Alimonda and Via Caffa were occupied and in that moment a land rover was isolated. Believing his life in serious danger Mario Placanica shot Carlo Giuliani while he was throwing a fire extinguisher.
The police behaviour at Diaz-Pertini School was legitimate. There were some problems about the co-ordination, but we are sure that the police engaged in an action that balanced the reaction of those in the school. Force was necessary to force the people to leave the school, but all the work was done to prevent people from danger and physical injuries. Maybe some excesses happened, and now the magistrature have to work to find the responsible policemen.
On the episodes in Bolzaneto barracks, the commission has to say that nothing can make us doubt the legitimity of police work. Arrested people had good treatment, and the long period of detention was caused by the grand number of people arrested during the fight in the city. Here Laura Tartarini, a lawyer with the Genova Legal Forum, gives her response and what must happen next.
- Piero Babudro
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GENOA: THE EVIDENCE
Almost two years after the events in Genoa and every day is still important to add new evidence to the massive frame work made up by material gathered and collected during investigations carried out by the prosecution and amongst the other figures. That is evident to those of us who are sneaking and walking into the halls of this city's court, this is extremely important.
The amount of data gathered, once seeming endless, has nowadays started to give a clearer picture and, above all, it will allow us to be able to ask formal prosecution requests of which each one will have to have an answer in Court.
This is an update to summarise investigations opened:
EVENTS IN THE STREETS AND CS GAS USAGE
There are many reports discussing the events in the streets of Genoa During the G8 meeting.
The lawyers (the "we" referred to) of Genoa Legal Forum have presented many collective prosecution requests referring to the events of CS gas usage (events of in Piazza Manin and Corso Italia) justified by some as the last way re-establish "public order" in a very difficult situation.
For this reason we have asked the Court to prosecute all figures who had key and Decision Making roles as associates of the single Police Officers already prosecuted. WE included the Ministry of Interiors, The Police Area Manager Police officers, the Chief in Command of Operation and the Officers responsible for security in each of the above mentioned sights including all the officers under their command.
This prosecution request, as well as others and yet to be viewed by the Court, will also be presented for the events happened in Via Tolemaide. Prosecution requests will reach Officers who participated to the Police raids on ordinary marchers which caused extreme violence ending with the death of Carlo Giuliani.
The work to end this reports is massive not only because of the different interpretations given on each video or photograph viewed, but also because of the complexity of particular investigations that should will be with no doubt carried out.
ABOUT GAS USAGE
Progress has been made on the investigation regarding illegitimate usage of CS gas about which prosecution requests handed in by marchers and protesters who have suffered injuries (some of which serious) are of enormous number. These requests have helped us to gather data which led us to discover how during the Genoa events Security used Chemical compounds prohibited by International Laws.
However with reference to what we refer to the gas events along with support of different Associations, there is an emerging issue risen by the Police Force Union which argues the usage of gas in particular events as a self-defence "item". Rather than seeing massive improvements within the investigation, WE acknowledged the fact that for the events of the European Social Forum (11-09-02) in Florence The Ministry of Interiors has declared that the Police Force would not be in possession of such gas even though the toxic degree is far from being discovered.
About aggression and police raids on single individuals: there has been little improvement on this subject even for the clearest cases. Here is an example to give you a better understanding. Some video images recorded in Corso Torino which show a marcher brutally attacked and repetitively beaten by a group of CARABINIERI (Military Police Force) with no face protection. This has allowed us to identify the Police Officers involved, and led us to hand in a request of prosecution, however the protester has yet to come forward and the case will be closed as there is no will for the victim to prosecute. The case will be closed in April 2003.
ABOUT A TEENAGER KICKED
The images, recorded by a dozen of cameras, turned into the symbol of what really happened in Genoa during those days and left few doubts about the REAL EVENT and guilt of the Officers now under charge.
Videos show a DIGOS (Special Police Force) Officer in civil clothes kicking a teenager marcher in the face while being held back by some of his colleagues. This led to trigger two different kinds of procedure.
The first one, seeing the police officer under a request of prosecution, is still in embryonic phase. It is important to underline that this Officer has NOT been suspended from service, and received a promotion to Director of logistics in Genoa Police Headquarters too.
The second one has seen the minor aged person prosecuted and plied not guilty for not having committed the following :abusive resistance to Public Officer.
The result has been positive considering that most of the DIGOS Officers went to testify that the events where not the ones recorded by dozens of video cameras but, according to the Officers, that the marcher would have assaulted and insulted Police Force.
ABOUT THE EVENTS IN BOLZANETO
Investigation on the grotesque and astonishing events which took place in Bolzaneto's Carabinieri's Headquarters, are at a final stage and led Us to identify thirty (among Special Agents an Officers) people of which We will request prosecution.
The above persons will be held responsible for physical and psychological assault exercised upon marchers while being held.
The charges will also reach at least one of the doctors practising at the Headquarters during the events. Procedures for starting Formal Identification of the above prosecuted (and nowadays investigated) have been held in March 03.
Other characters such as the Ministry of Justice, the DAP (Department of Penitentiary Administration) Director, Chief Magistrate of Genoa's Court (nowadays interrogated by The Italian Supreme Council of Magistrates) who are less "reachable" and of which it is more difficult to understand what kind of and which degree of responsibility their positions involved, could and will be called up to prosecution.
They will be held responsible for studying, designing and making this events factual; who not only allowed the above described events to degenerate but also ignored or allowed to ignore some of the fundamental principals of the Prisoners Rights.
First of all the right of the clients to inform families and lawyers about the events and the arrests. According to our opinion, these requests will be vital to prosecute today so that it will not happen again in the future.
ABOUT THE EVENTS IN DIAZ SCHOOL
There are two investigation reports on the events happened the night between the 21st and the 22nd of July in Via Cesare Battisti and they are strictly related with each others.
The first one relates to the investigation on the events happened inside the IT Lab in Giovanni Pascoli College. The investigations regarding these events highlight how the Police operation, to be perceived and acknowledged as a side-operation of the main one, was carried out inside Pertini's College. The irruption was carried out by some Officers also employed by SCO ( a Software development Agency) who reported to have "accidentally" entered the wrong side of the school and by later realising the mistake, exit the primacies immediately.
About the Officers who signed the report that proved the entrance of the officers, others have been identified by persons who were there at the time of the facts.
About the offences against the people in the School the Police Officers are being investigated and will be prosecuted for other offences such as theft and Public Property damaging as, during the events, the removed and took away hard disks and other material from the Lawyers Office.
This investigation should also close in a few months (therefore the sake of gathering even more evidence that has not reach Prosecution desks nor Genoa Legal Forum)
The second report which hasn't been completed yet, of course, the one related to the massacre inside Pertini's School.
Prosecution investigation was carried out with the help of Lawyers form the various offended party and led to fundamental facts reconstruction. Evidence previously attached to the report with the objective to justify Police irruption and arrest of 93 protesters have been proved to be false and irrelevant by patient work of the Prosecution. The stone launch against the Police Officers which was said to have trigger the decision to irrupt in the School, the resistance of the protesters inside the School (with the story of the stubbing of Police Officer Nucera) the weapons found and automatically stated as weapons belonging to the protesters ( amongst which to petrol bombs) all this have been proved not consistent proves.
In these days further investigation about the event of Officer Nucera who declared to have been stubbed during Police irruption and of which the RIS (Scientific Investigation Forces) placed in Parma have already declared that the events told by Officer Nucera and the result of the research carried out on the officer jacket is inconsistent. Consequently we felt to request prosecution towards 20 officers who were in some way related to the bild up of falsity as well as being related to 93 arrests carried out in the school although knowing this people were totally innocent.
To the above charges We also requested to prosecute the Officers who signed authorisations for the arrests, all those Officers belonging to the Settimo Nucleo Antisommossa (Seventh Anti-riot Squad) -as causing serious injuries to protesters- and Doctor Canterini.
ABOUT THE EVENTS IN PIAZZA ALIMONDA
Regarding the above events two kinds of investigation are being carried out and, paradoxically, files and information are not being shared.
On one side prosecution was requested towards three protesters who charged a military van. They are prosecuted for attentive murder. The three protesters have voluntarily turned themselves in in order to tell how the events truly evolved. The charges press towards them (attentive murder) have not withdrawn nor changed even though there is no evidence what so ever of the three people carrying anything but their bare cloths, stones ad a wooden stick!! (keep in mind they were charging a bullet proof military van)
On the other side the files regarding the murder of Carlo Giuliani. (Most of the information has been previously released). The 17th of april the carabiniere's Placanica Legal Party will ask the Court to drop the charges against their client, which will automatically lead to a Formal Opposition Request to Procede presented by the Giuliani's Party.
The Court has already shown a kind of hurry to close this trial which is unacceptable on our eyes.
The Court has appeared impatient to solve, not only because this case would become another from the many "known and buried unsolved" events in Italian History branding, once again negatively, the Italian Justice and the Politics; but also because counter investigation carried out within the movement have highlighted a lot of inconsistencies within the defence evidence.
Furthermore if on one side we have the "clever stone theory" on the other there are frightening facts they haven't been cleared by the investigation.
In the reports held by the Court, one can find hundreds of pages related to the presence and Formal Police hearings of the protesters as well as local people living in the area.
However one can only find a few lines about the presence of the Officers, about their precise tasks to be carried out during the events, about their passive behaviour when facing the assault of the military van (in Italian paradoxically called "defender") and so on.
It is therefore clear that a lot red tape has been used on this matter in order to leave many of the true events obscure. One frightening example would be the presence of some Officers in Piazza Alimonda who were already involved somehow in the events happened during the Military Somali Campaign in the early ninety's (and some related to the rape and the murder of Ilaria Alpi) which is far from being denied yet. However more disgusting are suggestions of Genoa being a test for new "Peace keeping Squads" as they call them which appeal to Us as a great willingness to revive a dark way (which can be found in any Italian History book) of restoring "order" and Urban war strategies amongst the Officers.
All the elements observed may have explained insufficiently the last seconds of the tragic event in Piazza Alimonda, however it has neatly clarified the event, the real overall scene and the reasons of the outcome we all know. We are therefore awaiting the Court to formulate a sentence with great confidence.
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Italian media have been publishing transcripts of an inquiry into the policing of the 2001 Genoa G8 summit in which officers admit fabricating evidence against protesters. - BBC
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ABOUT INVESTIGATIONS ON THE PROTESTERS
During the month of July following the events more than 300 people were arrested (including 93 protesters in Diaz School). Almost all of them are still nowadays investigated. Only five have been heard in Court one of which has been sentenced to 8 months in prison being charge of "Aggravated Resistance to Police Officer".
For some of the above mentioned protesters We are already capable to provide evidence (videotapes, eyewitnesses etc.) which demonstrate the falsity of such accusations.
Again the work seemed to be endless and extremely articulated as there is a need to match declarations and videotapes to each single event.
We would like to underline once again that ANY video, ANY deposition Anything that could provide Us with an evidence would be very much appreciated.
More specifically, the first 120 arrests which have taken place in the 20th and the 21st of July were carried out for aggravated resistance to Police Officers and aggravated damaging, however the charges radically change for the arrests carried out in Via Redipuglia Camping resort were 23 COBAS (Basic comity syndicate) Trade Union members were arrested, transferred to Bolzaneto Prison and jailed. Accusations pending on the above mentioned are utterly heavy.
The searching carried out by the Police at the camping resort, the procedures adopted the execute arrests, was the prelude of the events taken place at the Diaz School afterwards. Again evidence was gathered in an informal, imprecise way, the attitude taken by the Police was very much abusive and threatening even when Legal Party of the above mentioned were on sight.
Despite this, it is only the Public Magistrate that authorised release of all 23 of the above mentioned as there was no evidence what so ever to link them to the evidence gathered.
It is only from this event onwards that Prosecution decided to change the charges towards the protesters from aggravated damage and aggravated burglary to "criminal organised association aiming to devastation and criminality as being associated to the Black Block" Clause 416 and 419 of the Italian Penal Code group such charges to be punished with 8 to 15 years of detention .
Legal Procedures on the matter are still at a beginning stage, however not even the 93 protesters arrested at the Diaz School have been seeing this charges dropped against them of such an absurd accusation.
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"I brought the Molotov cocktail to the Diaz school. I obeyed the order of one of my superiors." - 25-year-old unnamed officer to investigating prosecutors.
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THE OBSCURE PLOT
To the arrests executed during the events in Genoa others are to be added.
During a press conference following the arrests of the 4th of December Genoa Chief Commander of DIGOS (Division of General Investigations and Special Operations) spoke about 374 people identified and investigated. We are confident this is not consistence and evidence on the above declaration is never been released.
Different is though for those arrested the 4th of December. During that night 9 people were taken to prison, one confined to his/her domicile and for another 13 different measures are adopted:
From obligation to remain in their domicile overnight to imposed daily signature check point at the Police Headquarters.
Several of them have seen a drastic drop of punishment measures during the rebate Tribunal. Nowadays 1 people is still detained, one has been released in the beginning of april 03, the others are all undertaking several different obligations like confine to his/her domicile or similars.
For all the charges pressed are devastation and burglary.
Off course heavier charges have been dropped not only for being inconsistent but also because the prosecutors do not like to see the events in Genoa (specially after the events in Cosenza) in a real way which we all know, but they prefer to assume that it as a "big event in a square which went out of hands and because of some "punks" every one was to participate at least spiritually to devastation and all the protesters where legitimately charged by the Force".
To make it clear certainly not a terrorist association (so difficult to prove) but surely everybody somehow and some way (even with not prove what so ever) was pledge and involved. justifying legitimate intervention of the Police Forces.
It is exactly from this interpretation that the hidden plot is now clear and even commented by the Prime Minister.
The Police Forces employed to maintain order during the Genoa Social Forum in July 2001 have proved (ingenuity or WILLINGNESS) unable to isolate some concerning figures within the protesters (black Blok).
The Genoa Rebate Tribunal sustains that the head of the rally was organised to confront Police Force and joined other groups to confront the Police in a violent way.
The charges of the Carabinieri in Via Tolemaide are perfectly justified if anything they charged too softly and certainly too late.
Who reacted to the Police charges reacted with willingness to go against the law and not led by fear, desperation nor panic.
Therefore no softening of charges are to be expected, in fact who threw a stone - this is the case of some of the Trade Unionists mentioned earlier - is just as guilty as everybody else of devastation and burglary of course.
In other words nobody had to be in Genoas Social Forum to protest during the G8 events.
AGAINST THE CIVIL RIGHTS
It is still impossible for Us to try and get a definite conclusion on the events of the Social Forum in Genoa in July 2001. However lots of blurred pictured are starting to become very clear and very neat indeed is the effort We have to sustain.
From one part we need to ask formally complete clarity of Police Force Management in Genoa, We need to ask the reasons, the objectives of such a striking charge of the security and Foreign Intelligence (for the growing evidence of military operations disguides as international police intervention and of security related issues managed with military action).
We will persevere with asking any single role of any agent, even more we will ask who was responsible for giving orders and direct each movement of Police Force from the High ranks of The Arms of The Carabinieri to the Chief in Command of the Police.
On the other side lays the concerning reconstructions of those who allow the provokers to become victims (as any of us remember this practice used for rapist).
The most frightening thought We came across during all investigation is that whoever protesters are automatically wrong, their witness deposition isn't credible when declaring seeing with their eyes the Police charging for no reason. Their words are worthless when they talk about panicking not knowing what to do (that are the same justifications the Carabiniere Placanica uses on his defence) are, instead an evidence for Prosecution to highlight guilt.
Furthermore the fact that some protesters have not tried to stop violence within the protest involve their guilt.
This is happening while the High Court in Cosenza sustain that any Protest held on International events is automatically plotted to be against the government because violent.
It would be easy to say that all this depended on the present governmental situation in Italy. Unfortunately it is not so.
Not only because embryonic signs of such events emerged before the Right wing went to govern (see references of Protests in Naples and Brescia) but also because of the International scene, but also because of the increase of the use of articulated and misused forms of repression on the Movement. By exploiting easy target such as the necessity for security, the increase fear of internal terrorism these figures are slowly amputating a series of guaranties of rights globally recognised.
Genoa Guantanamo, the new European anti-terrorist Law (which as an effect see now the Italian law also modified in a even tougher way the policies adopted about Minor Age criminality most of all in France the introduction of Bossi-Fini Bill,are the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that shows itself clearer and clearer casting a dark image.
The investigations on the events in Genoa could be the chance to discover such a plot and defeat systematic cancellation of individual rights.The is a great chance to re-establish clarity on our history wherever some would want to be sinister and obscure.
Inside and outside the Courts.
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– Laura Tartarini
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