28 March 2012
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Italy
20 activists
arrested for "subversive association"
On the night of 14 November twenty
activists from the Rete meridionale del sud ribelle were
arrested on orders from Cosenza giudici per le indagini preliminari
(gip, judge for preliminary investigations) Nadia Plastina and
Domenico Fiordalisi under articles 270 and 270 bis of the Italian
criminal code for constituting a "subversive association".
They are accused of political conspiracy by association aimed
at disrupting the exercise of government "particularly on
occasion of the international summits in Genoa and Naples"
by "organising and provoking clashes between numerous demonstrators
and the police to make public order unmanageable", and of
continuous distribution of subversive propaganda, sometimes using
Internet, to "violently subvert the economic order of the
State". The arrests affected people from the southern cities
of Naples, Cosenza, Taranto, Reggio Calabria and Vibo Valentia,
and saw the involvement of the carabinieri from the ROS
special operation unit. Eleven people are being detained in Trani
high security prison, two women in Latina and seven others have
been placed under house arrest. Another 22 people are also formally
under investigation.
Article 270 of the criminal code dates back to the fascist regime, and was explicitly aimed by then-justice minister Alfredo Rocco at left-wing movements, punishing: "Anyone who constitutes, organises or directs associations aimed at ... violently subverting the social-economic order that exists in the State" with five to twelve years detention with a three-year sentence applicable for participation in such an organisation. Article 270 bis, in defence of the democratic order, punishes "Anyone who promotes, constitutes or directs organisations to undertaking acts of violence aimed at subversion of the democratic order is punished with seven to fifteen years detention", with four to eight-year sentences envisaged for participation in such groups. In this case, it appears that publishing information ("subversive propaganda") and involvement in demonstrations ("disrupting the exercise of government") during which violence occurred, lead to arrests on the grounds of terrorism. According to Repubblica journalist Giuseppe D´Avanzo, the accusations are based on evidence collected by the carabinieri ROS, including interceptions and surveillance, as well as defiant public statements or information posted on the Internet by members of the network. D´Avanzo claims that the 980-page report by the ROS was rejected by judges in Genoa, Turin and Naples before it was acted upon in Cosenza.
A press release from the Rete del Sud Ribelle describes the arrests as an act of "terrorism against freedom of thought and trade union political action in Italy", arguing that "The Cosenza prosecutor´s office is making a big mistake, the Rete del sud ribelle is not a clandestine organisation, [it is] merely a way of keeping the groups in the south (social centres, Cobas, environmentalist groups and individuals) linked". It claims that Cosenza prosecutors "fear that the many social elements that make up the Rete del Sud Ribelle, may represent a useful socio-political element capable of bringing neo-liberal policies back into discussion". The arrests were followed by demonstrations throughout Italy, with organisers claiming that 30,000 demonstrated in Rome and 15,000 in Naples: other actions took place in Florence, Milan, Perugia, Viareggio, Genoa, Palermo, Pisa, Lecce, Trieste, Vicenza and Latina (outside the prison). Fabio Marcelli of Giuristi Democratici, a network of democratic lawyers, argues that we are in presence of "a dangerous backlash or... a judicial counter-offensive by the most retrograde sectors of the state apparatus... The evidence of this is the association-related nature of the "crimes" alleged using the remains of fascism in the penal code (political conspiracy, subversive propaganda) and the fragility of the prosecution´s case".
The arrests are not isolated, as a number of members of the
Confederazione Cobas trade union in Taranto were arrested this
summer in an inquiry that led to 49 people being placed under
investigation, 23 of them for subversive association. Six members
of the same trade union, including two members of its national
executive body, were among those detained on 14 November.
Comunicato dei giuristi democratici, 15.11.02;
Repubblica, 15-18.11.02; Rete No Global press statements 15-17.11.02.
Persecution of the movement and Cobas", press statement
by the Cobas school section, 15.11.02.
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