Lettera del presidente di Amnesty International al presidente del consiglio Berlusconi
Text of AI's letter of 31 July 2001 addressed to the Italian Prime Minister
Ref.: TG EUR 30/01.10
Onorevole Silvio Berlusconi
Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri
Palazzo Chigi
Piazza Colonna 370
00187 ROMA
Italy 31 July 2001
Dear Prime Minister,
Amnesty International [AI] is writing to express its deep concern about the reports it has received with regard to the conduct of law enforcement and prison officers in the context of the policing operation surrounding the G8 summit in Genoa this month.
In a letter dated 10 July 2001, which AI addressed to the Minister of Interior and copied to the Ministers of Defence, Finance and Justice, the organization urged the Italian authorities to ensure that state officers engaged in G8 policing operations were aware of, and acted at all times in accordance with relevant international human rights standards. AI's letter, a copy of which is attached, set out the provisions of key international human rights standards relating to:
the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials;
the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly;
the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, and
the rights of people deprived of their liberty, including:
- the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
- the right for relatives or a third party to be informed of their whereabouts;
- the right for foreign nationals to contact consular officials;
- the right of prompt access to a legal counsel of their choice;
- the right of prompt provision of adequate medical care;
- the right to be duly informed of their rights and of any charge(s) against them in a language they can understand;
- the right to humane conditions of detention.
However, AI has received, and continues to receive, numerous reports and allegations of the violation of all the above rights in the context of the G8 policing operation. The allegations concern Italian nationals and nationals of a number of other countries (including France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom and USA) who were in or travelling to or from Genoa in connection with the G8 demonstrations. We are seeking your cooperation, therefore, in providing the organization with information on any relevant instructions and training which were given to state officers in the lead up to G8 with regard to the international human rights standards detailed in AI's 10 July letter.
As pointed out in the 10 July letter, AI recognizes the difficulties faced in policing summits, especially as certain factions are set on causing violence. Similarly, AI recognizes that it is the duty of the authorities to ensure the safety and security of participants in the summit as well as of peaceful demonstrators and local inhabitants. The organization does not condone violence aimed at law enforcement officers or property, nor does it oppose the lawful use of reasonable force by law enforcement officials. However, as AI's 10 July letter underlined, at the same time, policing must be carried out with full respect for international human rights standards and in such a way as to protect the rights of those people engaged in peaceful protest.
As you will be aware, AI has already expressed public concern about the circumstances in which, on 20 July 2001, Carlo Giuliani, a demonstrator in Genoa was fatally shot by a 20-year-old law enforcement official performing his military service in the carabinieri force. The shooting took place in the context of the anti-globalization demonstrations, some of which degenerated into violence and resulted in significant injuries to people and extensive damage to property.
AI welcomed the news of the prompt opening by the Genoa Prosecutor's office of a criminal investigation into the fatal shooting. AI urges that the investigation be thorough, and impartial, that its scope, methods and findings be made public and that it include a determination about whether the use of lethal force was consistent with the principles established in international human rights instruments regarding the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.
As indicated in AI's letter of 10 July, the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials define the circumstances under which law enforcement officials may use force and firearms. According to these principles, which have been accepted internationally, law enforcement officials shall only use firearms if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result. Firearms may be used against people only after giving warning, in order to prevent death or serious injuries, where less extreme means are insufficient to achieve such objectives. In doing so, law enforcement officials must respect and preserve human life, and minimize damage and injury. Firearms may only be used in the dispersal of violent assemblies when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary. The precise provisions of Principles 4, 5, 9, 10 and 14 are reproduced in an Appendix to this letter.
AI also urges the institution of a thorough review of the current training and deployment of law enforcement officers involved in crowd control. It calls on your government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the police are adequately equipped and trained to employ legitimate non-lethal methods of crowd control and moreover, are subject to strict regulations regarding the use of such methods, and to a strict system of accountability.
All regulations and training on the use of firearms by law enforcement officials should be reviewed and, where necessary, amended, so as to ensure clarity and conformity with international minimum standards and to protect, to the greatest extent possible, the lives, physical integrity and safety of the public.
AI is concerned about allegations that
- in the days immediately preceding the G8 summit, some protestors with apparently peaceful intent were not allowed to enter Italy or were expelled and not allowed to proceed to Genoa, thus violating their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. There are also allegations that in incidents at the Port of Ancona some such protestors were subjected to ill-treatment by law enforcement officers.
On Thursday, 19 July some 130 Greek citizens who had travelled to Italy with the intention of joining in protests surrounding the G8 summit in Genoa, were forcibly deported by the Italian authorities. On Saturday, 21 July the Greek Foreign Ministry categorically denied claims by the Italian authorities that weapons and dangerous objects had been found in the coaches carrying the protestors, thus justifying their deportation. Many of those expelled, including the Chair of the Greek Section of AI, reported that law enforcement officers subjected them to gratuitous violence, kicking them and hitting them with batons. AI notes that the Italian authorities have stated that some demonstrators had attacked law enforcement officers, inflicting injuries;
- law enforcement officers used excessive force on the streets during demonstrations which took place on Friday 20 and Saturday, 21 July, inflicting indiscriminate assaults, including beatings with batons, on -- amongst others -- non-violent protestors and journalists reporting on the demonstrations;
- during a police raid carried out on buildings being legally occupied by the Genoa Social Forum (GSF) in the early hours of Sunday, 22 July law enforcement officers subjected individuals detained in and around the GSF buildings, many of them asleep when the raid started, to deliberate and gratuitous beatings, resulting in numerous injuries, some of them requiring urgent hospitalization and in some cases surgical operations. Up to 20 people were reportedly carried out of the building on stretchers, two of them apparently in a coma;
- dozens of people were subjected to arbitrary and illegal arrest and detention, including the majority of those detained during the raid on the Genoa Social Forum;
- during transfer in police vehicles and inside detention facilities law enforcement and prison officers subjected individuals to beatings and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It has been claimed, amongst other things, that detainees were slapped, kicked punched and spat on, subjected to verbal abuse, sometimes of an obscene sexual nature, were deprived of food, water and sleep for lengthy periods, made to line up with their faces against the wall and remain for hours spreadeagled, with their hands in the air or against the wall, and beaten, in particular on parts of their bodies already injured during arrest if they failed to maintain this position. Those forced to maintain this position allegedly included those who had already suffered hand and arm injuries. Some detainees were apparently threatened with death and, in the case of female detainees, rape;
- many people were denied the internationally-recognized rights of people deprived of their liberty, in some cases for several days, including denial of prompt access to lawyers and, in the case of foreigners, consular officials, and denial of prompt and adequate medical care. In addition, many were not allowed to have their relatives promptly notified of their whereabouts and were not informed of their rights.
In view of these allegations, AI welcomed the news of the opening by the Genoa Prosecutor's Office of criminal investigations into the conduct of law enforcement and prison officers during the G8 summit in Genoa, in addition to the criminal investigation into the fatal shooting of Carlo Giuliani on 20 July.
It is AI's understanding that one investigation concerns the conduct of law enforcement officers during the street demonstrations, that another concerns their conduct during the raid on the Genoa Social Forum offices on 22 July and that a third concerns the allegations of cruel inhuman and degrading treatment and the violations of the other rights of people deprived of their liberty in police stations, detention facilities and during transportation.
AI would welcome the cooperation of your government in providing the organization with clarification as to the precise number and remit of the criminal investigations. AI would also be grateful to be informed of the nature of any official investigations opened into the conduct of the police during the incidents in the Port of Ancona on 19 July. AI would similarly welcome information about any investigations which have been initiated into the role of undercover police officers during the G8 demonstrations in Genoa.
Although AI welcomes the initiation of these criminal investigations by the Italian judicial authorities, given the scale and gravity of the allegations still emerging, the large number of foreign nationals making the allegations and the consequent very high level of domestic and international concern, in the organization's view the criminal investigations are unlikely to provide an adequate response.
Last week AI publicly and strongly advocated, therefore, the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry, comprising people of acknowledged probity and impartiality, to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the conduct of law enforcement and prison officers acting in the context of G8, with its scope, methods and findings made public.
AI would also recommend that:
- the commission should be given jurisdiction to take evidence from people alleging that they have been ill-treated by law enforcement and prison officers, and that such people be protected against harassment and intimidation and from prosecution for the substance of any allegations made about specific instances of ill-treatment;
- the commission should also be empowered to summons and take evidence from law enforcement and prison officers as well as relevant administrators, and to subpoena relevant evidence and records;
- the commission should file interim reports to facilitate the prompt initiation of any appropriate criminal or disciplinary proceedings, identifying specific instances and individuals whenever possible. These reports should also facilitate prompt amendments to regulations, laws, training and procedures relevant to law enforcement and prison officers;
- the commission should be given the authority to recommend that criminal prosecutions or disciplinary proceedings be brought against any officers against whom there is substantive evidence that they have engaged in torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or used excessive force.
In urging the Italian government to establish an independent commission of inquiry, AI wishes to underline its belief that prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations, with the scope, methods and findings made public, serve to protect the reputations of law enforcement and prison officers who may be the subject of unfounded accusations of excessive force, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as to safeguard the interests of genuine victims of torture or ill-treatment.
Copies of this letter are being sent to the President of the Republic and to the Ministers of Interior, Defence, Finance and Justice, for their information.
Yours sincerely,
Kate Gilmore
Interim Secretary General
APPENDIX
United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and
Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials
Principle 4 states:
"Law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall as far as possible apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use force and firearms only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result."
Principle 5 states:
"Whenever the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials shall:
a) exercise restraint in such use and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved;
b) minimize damage and injury, and respect and preserve human life;
c) ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to any injured or affected persons at the earliest possible moment;
d) ensure that relatives or close friends of the injured or affected person are notified at the earliest possible moment."
Principle 9 states:
"Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life."
Principle 10 states:
"In the circumstances provided for under principle 9, law enforcement officials shall identify themselves as such and give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warning to be observed, unless to do so would unduly place the law enforcement officials at risk or would create a risk of death or serious harm to other persons, or would be clearly inappropriate or pointless in the circumstances of the incident."
Principle 14 states:
"In the dispersal of violent assemblies, law enforcement officials may use firearms only when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary. Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms in such cases, except under the conditions stipulated in principle 9."
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