Italy: Soldier's death reveals army bigotry
01 September 1999
On 13 August Emanuele Scieri, a 26-year old conscript from the elite Folgore parachute brigade, fell to his death after climbing a tower in the Gamerra barracks near Pisa. Investigations into the death led to the replacement of the barracks commander, Brigadier General Calogero Cirneco. The discovery of documents revealing disturbing traits of the barrack culture prevailing in the Folgore, and suspicion that bullying may have played a part in the death, have caused widespread condemnation. Accounts from former soldiers have surfaced, illustrating the practices and abuse they had to suffer. The debate was also fuelled by an increase in reports of bullying; from 99 in 1997 to 268 in 1998, although sources in the Defence department's Observatory on Bullying suggest that this is the result of an increase in incidents being reported. On 21 July 1999, the Military Magistrates Council criticised military laws which fail to protect soldiers' rights; after the scandal broke, Defence Minister Carlo Scognamiglio said he would revise the peacetime military code.
Scieri was found dead at the foot of the tower, in a remote part of the military compound, two and a half days after his death. It was his first night in the Pisa barracks, after completing a training course near Florence. Investigators are trying to discover if he was on his own when he climbed the tower, whether some of his injuries were unrelated to his fall, and whether he would have survived if he had been found earlier. Pisa public prosecutor Enzo Iannelli explained that the possibility of a suicide attempt had been discarded, leaving an accident or a confrontation as the possible causes of death. He said that four people are under investigation for the failure to find Scieri, who may have been alive. It was suggested that during the autopsy, doctors found injuries which are unlikely to have been caused by the fall and it is suspected that he may have been forced to climb up the tower after a violent confrontation.
The Scieri family lawyer, Ettore Randazzo, filed charges against unknown persons on three counts. Firstly, for violence against the person, as Scieri had been forced to sit motionless in the "position of the sphinx" (hands on knees, back bent forwards, head upright) while he was transferred from Florence to Pisa, as were those transported with him. Secondly, for murder, due to the suspicion that Scieri was forced to climb the tower he fell from. The last charge, for negligence, suggests that Scieri may have died because he was not rescued promptly. "It is unacceptable that a person, maybe still alive for a period of time, may stay for two and a half days in his barracks without being found", Randazzo commented.
The controversy surrounding Scieri's death was augmented by the discovery of a collection of quotations and diagrams for elite corps officers, which included racist entries, fascist maxims, and guidelines for the bullying of novices, a practice known as nonnismo. General Enrico Celentano, responsible for editing the guide and distributing it among fellow Folgore officers, escaped punishment, although earlier reports assured that he would be replaced. Celentano explained that "its contents are so negative that...they induce people to do the opposite", and that he was pointing out forms of behaviour which the army should protect itself against.
This argument was contradicted by Charlie Barnao, formerly in the Folgore parachute regiment in the Gamerra barracks in Pisa, serving under Celentano. Barnao wrote a diary of a day in the corps for the Avvenimenti newspaper, stressing the violence and rituals soldiers had to undergo. His brutal account includes violent beatings while recruits did press-ups, a company commander with Mussolini's head tattooed on his chest, and soldiers returning from the UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia talking proudly of rapes and beatings inflicted on locals, referred to as "dirty niggers". There was also a regiment comma