Received 26/09/2019
Italy: “Scintilla” repressive operation – Silvia has been transferred to house arrest
We learn that on Wednesday September 25th, 2019, following the acceptance of the request for house arrest, Silvia was transferred from the “Le Vallette” prison in Turin to house arrest, with all restrictions. The comrade is the last anarchist to be imprisoned for the “Scintilla” operation of February 7th this year, which involved the arrest of five other people, the eviction of Asilo Occupato in Turin (anarchist squatted building existing since 1995) and some house searches.
The main accusation, according to the documents of the Turin prosecutor’s office, was that of having constituted or participated in a “subversive association” (article 270 of the Italian penal code) and of having carried out some direct actions concerning the fight against the CIE and the CPRs, prisons for migrant people. At the beginning of March, following the re-examination tribunal, the accusation of “subversive association” fell, while still remain some specific accusations (among these, “incitement to commit crimes” for the publication of the brochure “I cieli bruciano”, where are indicated the precise responsibilities of institutions, companies, institutions, etc., in the management and maintenance of CIE and CPRs, and the realization of a direct action against an office of Poste Italiane, at that time linked to the airline Mistral Air, employed in the deportation of migrants). Consequently the other five people in arrests, in the following months, were gradually released from prison.
Between the months of May and June Silvia and Anna (an anarchist imprisoned for the “Scripta Manent” operation since September 6, 2016, at April of this year sentenced to 17 years in prison following the sentence in the first degree trial) had started a hunger strike against the conditions and restrictions imposed in the prison of L’Aquila (a prison almost entirely made up of sections of 41bis, the most restrictive detention regime envisaged by the Italian penitentiary system), where the female AS2 (“High Surveillance 2”) section for anarchists had previously been transferred. The comrades – along with other anarchists locked up in the prisons of Ferrara, Alessandria, Lucca, Uta, Florence and Rome Rebibbia, to which also joined Natascia, arrested for the “Prometeo” operation of May 21st, 2019 – had conducted a hard hunger strike against the newly formed AS2 in L’Aquila, against what appeared to be a first concrete attempt to “bring closer” the conditions of imprisonment of anarchists accused of “associative” or “terrorist” crimes (then held in AS2) to those of the 41bis regime. Following the transfer of Silvia to Turin (and the latter transfer to house arrest) and Natascia to the prison of Piacenza, only Anna remains imprisoned in L’Aquila.
Lastly, we recall that only a few days ago (September 20, 2019), the police arrested three other anarchists, with accusations of “resistance to a public officer”, “damage”, “dirtying” and “aggravated injuries” in reference to the conflictual demonstration of February 9, 2019 (against the eviction of Asilo Occupato and in solidarity with the anarchists just arrested). They were taken to the “Le Vallette” prison in Turin.
Revolutionary solidarity with the anarchist prisoners.
