[Pressrelease] Italy: New law grants amnesty for police violence G8

[Media Networking against G8 (english)]

[Gipfelsoli Infogroup]

Press Release JUne 25th 2008

* Italy: New law grants amnesty for police violence at the 2001 G8 Summit
* "Race against time": Court rule against the police in July is now in question
* Protests in Italy and Berlin

[Rome | Genoa | Berlin] On Tuesday, under the new coalition government, the
Italian Senate passed new and wide-ranging repressive legalislation.
Immigration prevention and deportations will now be easier and a DNA Database
is to be introduced. Police and army forces will patrol the streets together,
for which 2.500 soldiers have been designated. In June there were attacks on
Roma in which police were invovled. "Beggar laws" will increase pressure on
victims.

The new legislation also means that all trials that began before 2002 will be
deferred for one year. This saves Berlusconi from legal proceedings regarding
allegations of corruption of the British lawyer David Mills. As a result, rules
regarding the limitation of time periods in which a case can be brought before
the courts can be used to avoid concluding many of the trials, meaning that in
a number of the existing cases, a final decision can no longer be expected.

On July 21st the courts are to make a final decision in the long-stanging
"Bolzaneto Case".Summit protesters were brutally attacked and mishandled at the
Bolzaneto police barracks in JUly 2001. 45 officers and heads of the state and
military police, prison services, doctors and other personnel are charged.

300 victims are taking legal action as joint plaintiffs, half of whom are from
outside of Italy. Compensation claims are dependent on the outcome of the
trial.

"The state prosecution's reconstruction of events in Bolzaneto demonstrates
violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights", says the
Segretaria Legale, a Genovese legal support group that works closely with the
lawyers.

The new Berlusconi legislation will be fully ratified on July 25th, four days
after the final decision is due to be made in the "Blozaneto Case". Lawyers of
the mishandled demonstrators suspect delay tactics on the side of the
government, who are using all means to prevent the conviction of police
officers. The Genovese lawyer Laura Tertarini has referred to a "race against
time": We have been through a great deal over the years of this trial. From
false evidence and non-cooperation of witnesses and the accused. We thought it
was all over, this new legislation is sheer mockery".

>From JUly 18th to 22nd, actions and events will take place in Genoa to mark the
seventh anniversary of the G8 protests and Carlo Giuliani's death. In protest
against the looming suspension of the Bolzaneto Case joint plaintiffs and
anti-G8 protesters have registered a rally outside the Italian embassy in
Berlin on July 4th.

*Background*

* The lawyer Laura Tartarini on the Berlusconi-legislation:
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Genua_2001/5218.html
* Statement of "Segretaria Legale":
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Genua_2001/5186.html
* "Letter to the victims of Bolzaneto" from the Committee for Truth and Justice:
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Genua_2001/5103.html
* Corriere della Sera on the Berlusconi-legislation:
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Genua_2001/5217.html
* Rally and events in Berlin:
http://gipfelsoli.org/Hokkaido_2008_deutsch/5155.html

*Photos* (License: Creative Commons)

* http://gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/13/bolzaneto_revisited.jpeg (Bolzaneto
police barracks)
* http://gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/13/bolzaneto_nessun_colpevole.jpeg
(Graffiti in Italy 2007)

*Contact*

Andrea Brigante, Matthias Monroy, Hanne Jobst: +49 (0) 160 953 14 023