The European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) has ruled that an appeal filed by police officials on a
case pertaining to a notorious and bloody round-up at a Genoa
school housing anti-globalisation protesters at the 2001 Group
of Eight summit in northern Italy is admissible.
The police were acquitted in the first trial but found guilty
on appeal and in the Court of Cassation for false claims and
slander.
The appeal claims that there were violations in the men's
defense rights.
ECHR will be assessing the appeal and, if upheld a review
trial may be held.
The officers were found guilty, among other things, of
planting a Molotov cocktail to justify a brutal raid that
Amnesty International called "the worst suspension of human
rights in Europe since WWII".
The "Armando Diaz" School was the temporary headquarters of
the Genoa Social Forum, led by Vittorio Agnoletto. A nearby
building, housing the anti-globalization organization Indymedia
and lawyers affiliated with the Genoa Social Forum, was also
raided.
On July 21, 2001, shortly before midnight, mobile divisions
of the State Police of Genoa, Rome and Milan attacked the
buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of
the Carabinieri.
The police indiscriminately attacked the building's
occupants, resulting in the arrest of 93 protesters; 61 were
seriously injured and were taken to hospital, three of them were
in a critical condition and one in a coma.
Prisoners taken to a temporary detention facility in
Bolzaneto were tortured and humiliated before being released.
The raid is the subject of the 2012 film Diaz - Don't Clean
Up This Blood where the attack and subsequent torture of
detainees is recreated.
On April 7, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled
that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights
at the 2001 G8 and ordered compensation for a protester beaten
by the police.
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