english translation of the Feature about the arrests of the 4th of december in Italy

The wave of repression in Italy goes on: once again we are breathing the air of a regime.

On the morning of the 4th of December, investigations against 23 people in different cities of Italy were instigated by magistrates. 45 raids in houses also took place. The accusations against those being investigated are: devastation, depredation (crimes that are punished with 8-15 years of detention and are usually not contested to anyone), fabrication and possession of explosives, possession of illegal weapons, resistance and violence against public officials.

The judge, Elena D'Alosio, ordered preventative arrests for 9 of the 23 under investigation (the other four are under house arrest; six are obliged to remain at home; four to present themselves to the police station). All of these provisions have been ordered now, one year and an half after the relevant events.

All of this is happening the day after the liberation of the activists who were arrested on the 14th of november 2002.
The show goes on, in the days in which the magistrates want to shut the case against Placanica - the carabiniere who is accused of shooting Carlo Giuliani. Once again, everyone is speaking about Genova: the charges against the new arrested are related to the events at Genova and the G8 during the year 2001- events that ended up with the assassination of Carlo Giuliani: justice is equal for everyone, legitimate defence is not.

'Mental Participation': anti-globalisation protestors arrested for
thoughtcrime

Amongst the 23 anti-globalisation protestors questioned and arrested
today in Italy there are some who are accused not of acts of violence
but of 'mental participation' ('compartecipazione psichica') and
'pscyhological support' [in the Genova actions].

In the paper that orders the arrest, judge Elena Dalosio writes: 'it's
clear that not only those who materially took part in the devastation
should be prosecuted, but also those facilitated the acts or gave
strength to their purpose. These people should be prosecuted even if
they didn't conduct any material act.'

'This is a case', the judge writes, 'of very serious resistance, with
the aim of disturbing police intervention. The behaviour of those who
were on the scene of the riots, together with the most violent ones,
gave strength to these people by their very presence. Their acts were
not crime in themselves, but aided the criminal intentions of the others
with their moral support."

- - except headline, from "La Repubblica" newspaper

'Mental participation' is a very wide criterium. There were about 200000 people active in Genova at the time. If they take this criterium serious you will get a Pinochet type repression wave with 100's of people held in stadiums etc.

english translation of the press release of Genova Legal Forum



Genoa Legal Forum Press Release on the arrests made on December 4, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
4.12.02

The arrests made last night by the Genoese DIGOS (political police) in support of the custody order sent out by the judiciary make it abbundantly clear what approach Genoese Prosecutors intend to follow in relation to the events surrounding the G8 demonstrations of 2001.

It is not clear, however, what reasons are behind the judiciary sending out such an order (even if it does apply to varying people with a different
degree of concern). In fact, both the risk of tampering with evidence and the possibility of suspects going into hiding do not seem applicable when one considers that almost all those arrested last night had already been advised more than a year ago that they were under investigation in the inquiries relating to the events in Genoa (some individuals, like the three
involved in Piazza Alimonda, actually came forward spontaneously even though they knew that in so doing they "earned" themselves the charge of attempted murder.)

In any case no one has tried to leave or to escape. Not even Perdonzani who, currently in Berlin, saw to it that the Public Prosecutor Franz was notified of his movements. It seems equally unjustifiable to us citing the third possible reason in these cases, the risk of re-offence, which, on the contrary, the judiciary
is especially singling out.

As if it further aggravates their cause, it is alleged that all, or almost all, those arrested participated in all the successive "no global" demonstrations, as they're known in Italy. At none of these events, however, despite their cited "violent characters",
were they alleged to have committed crimes or been involved in clashes with the Police.

So where does this leave us?
One is compelled to ask what the real point behind these official orders are.
There is still no clarity on this issue. What is obvious, however, is that even if the Genoese Prosecutors have not laid down charges relating to organised group crimes like those delivered by the Prosecutors of Cosenza, what has been proposed cannot be seen to be free of latent political implications and judgements as well as the criminalization of the movement
that in July filled the Genoese Piazzas.

The charge for devastation and looting, for example, brings with it not only the concept of acting collectively but also a prevision of harsh sentences (8 to 15 years) where similar acts have always been listed simply as
resisting or damage. Why is a crime for which it's difficult to find even one decision in judicial records being dusted off today?

Evidently the aim is to target some acts with increased severity if they are committed in the context of political demonstrations. And this can be further understood from the fact that among the evidence found against those under investigation that served to justify the the recent arrests there are Digos files on various demonstrator's political links and their activities in
their native cities.

So being close to the Communist Refoundation Party or the Pedro Social Centre in Padua becomes, in itself, an aggravating circumstance...All this, together with the archiving of the Placania case yesterday (the Police
Officer who shot Carlo Giuliani), makes us think the attitude of the Prosectutors in Genoa is diametrically opposed to requests of clarity, truth and justice that have come not only from the GLF or the movement but from all the democratic forces of this country. There is, in fact, an attempt to reduce the events in Genoa to single episodes, separate from each other and
decontextualized.

This is the way in which the "resistance" of a single demonstrator can be seen, without extending the frame to show the now proven attack on an authorized rally and the violence which followed. It was what we
planned might happen. It will be all that we can do to avoid it.

G8: DECREE TO PUNISH EVEN "MENTAL CO-PARTICIPATION"


(AGI) Rome, December 4 - Among the "no global" activists under investigation but not in custody aren't just those suspected of minor acts of violence but also those who, from a psychological viewpoint, allegedly offered support to violent demonstrators. This is described on page 53 of the preventative arrest order handed down by an Italian Magistrate.

"Mental Co-Participation" ("Compartecipazione psichica") is how it's termed from a legal point of view: "It concerns," explains the Magistrate, "a type of complicity with a crime that doesn't come in many forms, occuring in the conception phase of the crime. There are two variances: one is of the ringleader who encourages a criminal idea in others who did not have it previously, and the other is of the instigator who limits him or herself to reinforcing in another person a criminal idea that already exists, where there is a specific crime in question and where such moral participation constitutes, under an objective profile, an aggravating circumstance (like in the case of someone who, promising some sort of help after the committing of a robbery, knowingly instigates or reinforces the activity of the third party, with a casual relevance to the robbery, in which he/she is morally complicit.)

As far as those under investigation are concerned, therefore, according to Magistrate Daloiso, "It appears doubtless that those who must respond to charges of devastation aren't just those involved materially in the conduct of damage and arson, but also those persons who, despite not partaking materially in such activities, helped their execution with conduct which reinforced the criminal conduct of others. This is both in terms of aiding the committing of destruction of property with
the very serious conduct of resistance aimed at impeding the intervention of the police and also in terms of those whose mere presence in the theatre of clashes, congregating with the more violent elements, reinforced the actions of these elements with inciteful conduct. Such conduct is not in itself fundamentally criminal, but nevertheless served to bolster the determination of others in terms of reinforcing criminal conduct taking place, with the forming of compact groups expressing the desire to carry out indiscriminate destruction, in the knowledge that public order was being put in danger by the sum total of their actions."

TELESTREET
With a phone call from the carabinieri's station, two officials of the Communications Ministry, notified to Telefabbrica the violation of art. 95 of the postal code, enjoining to disactivate the transmission equipment in Termini Imerese. Only three days after the activation, this
small street television is shut down,the only television giving voice to workers of Termini Imerese. Following the repression trend of these days, once again, non-aligned voices are covered by a media monopoly system. If necessary, we have to remember that we live in the free state of Bananas, where the Prime minister is the owner of three national channels, one of them actually transmitting illegally; while public television is the field for politician's struggles, resulting in big damage for information quality and communication freedom. This street Tv related it self to other experiences that during last months gave birth to the http://www.telestreet.it project: in June first words of Orfeo tv, in November during the Social Forum HUBTv occupied a free frequency in Florence, all those experiences soon meeting in Bologna, the 14 of
December. The Ministry switched off the transmitting antenna but telefabbrica is still alive, daily documenting the situation in Termini Imerese. All this will be visible, Tuesday 10th of December during the actions organized by Emergency against war.
Let's open 1000 street Tvs