ITALY: Genoa - police evidence discredited
01 May 2002
After two days of tension and clashes between police forces and protestors in Genoa on 19-21 July 2001 a police raid on the Armando Diaz and Sandro Pertini schools led to the arrest of 93 people, many of whom were beaten, on the evening of 21 July (see Statewatch vol 10 no 3 & 4). Criticism in Italy and across Europe mounted over the raid and subsequent ill-treatment in custody suffered by protestors in Bolzaneto police barracks, which was converted into a makeshift detention area. Police and interior ministry sources reacted by claiming that militants had been staying in the Diaz school and that stones were thrown at the police. One officer, Massimo Nucera, was said to have had his vest ripped in a knife attack. Molotov cocktails, kitchen knives, black clothing and pick-axes allegedly found on the premises were shown to the press.
The police claims appear increasingly unlikely. Scientific tests on officer Massimo Nucera's jacket and bulletproof vest by carabinieri from the Reparto di Investigazione Scientifica (RIS, Scientific Investigation Unit) in Parma indicate that his version of the "knife attack" is inconsistent with the evidence. Nucera is now under investigation for falsehood and slander. Furthermore Pasquale Guaglione, deputy police chief in Gravina di Puglia recognised the molotov cocktails that were said to have been confiscated in the raid as ones he found hours earlier in a hedge in Genoa. Guaglione says that he was surprised to see them among the evidence from the school. Former Genoa police chief Francesco Colucci denies that the bottles passed through Genoa police headquarters. Genoa police are in charge of investigations.
Figures from the Misteri D'Italia newsletter indicate that 77 policemen are under investigation for inflicting injuries to those in the school, with some accused of false testimony and slander. Twenty members of the law enforcement agencies (including prison officers) are under investigation in connection with abuses carried out in Bolzaneto while protestors were in custody; 400 protestors and over twenty officers are under investigation in connection to clashes in the streets of Genoa, including the high profile case of the deputy head of the Genoa Digos, Alessandro Perugini, who was caught on camera beating a 15-year old.