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Police to stand trial over violance at G8 summit in Genoa |
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Thursday, 03 March 2005 |
Yesterday saw the preliminary opening of The
Diaz/Bolzaneto Trial at the main Genoa Tribunal. The first Group of 29
police officers from the diaz raid, are to be tried first. The 44
police plus three doctors from bolzaneto are to be tried as the Diaz
case finishes.
The day dawned a
bright blue sky over Genoa much like the saturday almost three years
ago when the Diaz raid happened during the G8 summit in July 2001.
Outside the court about 100 police were only allowing victims and their
lawyers inside after heavy searches and ID checks.
Downstairs in the basement, over 60 lawyers, 40 victims and roughly
15 of the accused police took their seats in what has been nicknamed
"the Bunker". The atmosphere could be cut with a knife with the Diaz
victims surrounded by the accused cops looking at each other with much
hate, anger and very intensive emotion. In a sense, being one of the
victims, I realised the gulf between the government and the italian
left was as wide as ever with no compromise in between. not that any
compromises were being sought by either side anyway.
Although no evidence was going to be presented or heard, this first
hearing was fundamental to both sides. On our side, our lawyers worked
hard and succeeded in allowing the trial to continue. the police
lawyers, who were dressed in Gucci "mafia" suits that must of cost a
1000 euros, tried in vain to state that because a primary witness who
has been involved in a car crash, the trial should be stopped or
suspended.
The primary witness involved was the policeman who had found the
molotov cocktails on the friday before the raid. the statement of this
policeman has indicted 19 police officers on conspiracy to plant false
evidence to incriminate the Diaz victims and lying to the prosecutors
in a cover-up. The personal views from some us was that it was very
convenient and timely for the witness to end up in a coma after a "car
crash" two days before the trial started. A friend later told me that
it is a tradition in italy for car accidents to be "arranged"!
The Judge refused to stop or postpone the trial and instead
seperated the witness from the case to allow the trial to continue. One
police lawyer objected several times to the point of punching his fist
on the table, making a loud noise while "shouting" at the judge. The
Judge refused to hear the objection for the second time and overruled
him.
The next tactic was to inform the judge that they were seeking a
"judicial review" of one of the charges with the hope of delaying the
trial whilst the review was heard ( what they are trying to do is what
berlusconi did, which is when charged, to change the law before you are
convicted). The judge refused to allow the "judicial review"
application and the trial was allowed to continue. the rest of the day
was taken up submitting "final power of attorney" documents on both
sides and the judge examining the documents to see that they were
complete and to proceedure.
trying to get a translation of what was going on was hard and
difficult for the victims of the Diaz. this problem i expect to
continue.
Meanwhile, not many of italian media turned up and much of the
coverage today was pro-police and berlusconi biased. The Guardian
newspaper did put in an appearance and tried to balance this with a
good piece. the BBC stayed away thinking that a BBC wildlife program
was more important to do than the Diaz case. Newsnight's editor also
decided that yet another George Bush pronouncement a Blair health
policy was more important than reminding the British public of what
happened during the G8 in 2001
The court finished at 4pm and after a short banner demonstration
outside in front of the media, we all decided to return to the Diaz
school to come to terms with what had happened there three years ago.
for myself, this was my third visit to Diaz and my fifth to Genoa. my
life almost ended at the Diaz and since it has always been hard to
return. for many, it was for the first time returning to a place of
such total pain, shock, terror and horror. my nightmares are of the
screams. For others it was dark images of cops batoning them or close
friends. for a small group, it was particularly stressful because the
nature of their injuries gave them post traumatic stress disorder to a
high level. Afterward we all met up for a dinner at a famous and well
known resturant called "Mario's"
After the Diaz raid, what was so cruel was that we all had to go
through an endurance battle to stay alive, despite our injuries (and no
help from their citizen governments they belong to) whilst the lawyers
prepared the case. most have been reduced to living below the poverty
line with no chance of ever working again. the police who have been
charged enjoyed promotion, wages and public standing and have not
suffered at all yet.
As for the politicians responsible for the raid, none have been
brought to trial or even questioned by the prosecutors. this is not to
say the prosecutors have tried and, indeed they are under alot of
pressure not to question the politicians involved. Another issue that
troubled all of us was the presence of two members of parliament who
were working as lawyers on the police side. their names are La Rossa
from the (fascist) National Alliance Party and Biondi from Forza
Italia. we are also asking our lawyers to research the possiblity that
the National Alliance has made large "donations" the police legal fund
because the lawyers appear to be very well funded. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 March 2005 )
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