Italy: Update on the Bialystok trial (February-March 2021)

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Received 04/03/2021 from

Update on the Bialystok trial (Italy, February-March 2021)

On February 25, 2021 there was the second hearing of the “Bialystok” trial, held behind closed doors and by videoconference for the comrades. Luigi Imperatore of the Special Operational Grouping (Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, ROS) of the Carabinieri was heard, and he gave the usual examination on what they believe is the history of anarchism starting from the 19th century. It will continue in the next hearing on May 12.

In the meantime, for one reason or another, the comrades remain in prison.

Flavia, Nico and Claudio are still waiting, since the beginning of November, for the reasons for the decision of the Court of Cassation to be deposited, without which they cannot return to the re-examination hearing, effectively preventing the court from ruling again on the release of the comrades.

Even the decision on Roberto’s release is stuck in an empasse of bureaucratic rebound that plays on the reasoning of “it is not my competence”. And icing on the cake, on March 2, the re-examination of Francesca, while annulling 270bis (“subversive association with terrorist purposes”), reconfirmed the precautionary measures in prison, clinging to minor charges.

All this reconfirms that we cannot expect anything from the democratic justice process which, as we have already seen for “Prometeo” and “Scripta Manent”, wants to keep the comrades in preventive detention to the bitter end. And it reconfirms and feeds our hatred for the state and its servants.

Solidarity and complicity with the comrades in jail for the “Bialystok” operation, with all the comrades affected by repressive measures, with all the prisoners fighting in jail, with those who are paying for last year’s prison riots, with Dimitris Koufondinas.

[Translated into english by malacoda.noblogs.org].

Note about Bialystok repressive operation

Following an investigation initiated by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office and called operation “Bialystok”, seven anarchists were arrested in Italy, Spain and France on June 12, 2020, while the Bencivenga Occupato anarchist squat in Rome and some homes were searched. Two people were placed under house arrest, while five others were detained in prison. The five people under arrest in prison are charged with “subversive association for the purposes of terrorism and subversion”, “instigation to commit crimes” and other minor offences (all aggravated by the terrorist subversive purpose) mainly concerning some initiatives in solidarity with the defendants of the “Panico” trial in Florence. The repressive operation is the work of the ROS (“Special Operational Grouping”) of Carabinieri and of the Prosecutor’s Office of Rome. The name of the operation is taken from the title of the book Anarchici di Bialystok 1903-1908 (Edizioni Bandiera Nera, 2018).

Part of the charges relate to two actions: one of the five who are in prison is charged with “act of terrorism with deadly or explosive devices” and “instigation to commit crimes” in reference to the explosive attack against the Carabinieri barracks in the San Giovanni neighbourhood, an action claimed by the Cellula “Santiago Maldonado” / FAI–FRI (Rome, December 7, 2017); while the comrade under house arrest is charged with an incendiary attack against three Enjoy cars, the carsharing service linked to ENI, Italian multinational oil and gas company (Rome, February 28, 2019). The other comrade placed under house arrest, who is also a defendant in the “Panico” trial, was released by order of the review court (he is charged with “conduct with the aim of terrorism”). The latter two comrades, who were placed under house arrest on June 12, 2020, are not charged with the crime of subversive association that the other five are accused of.

The investigation started with the action against the Carabinieri barracks in the San Giovanni neighbourhood in Rome, and then evolved into the monitoring of the Bencivenga Occupato. The ROS carabinieri thus hypothesised the existence of a “cell” that from August 2018 would have been based at the occupied space and that from there would have promoted “subversive activities” mainly through a series of initiatives in solidarity with the defendants in the “Panico” trial. The other specific charges against the five who are in prison relate to two written texts that the ROS have placed at the basis of the charge of subversive association with the purposes of terrorism, the organisation of three demonstration meetings under the walls of the prisons of La Spezia and Sollicciano in Florence (La Spezia, October 7 and November 18, 2018, and Florence, December 31 of the same year), an unauthorized solidarity demonstration (La Spezia, January 5, 2019), some wall writings and sticking up of posters (Teramo, February 8, 2019, and Rome, February 12, 2019), a theft of cement bags (Rome, February 6, 2019), the elaboration of two texts published in view of the initiative “From the underground”, a hip hop music festival held at the Bencivenga (Rome, March 2019), a greeting to the inmates under the women’s Rebibbia prison at the end of the “From underground” initiative (Rome, March 31, 2019) and the blocking of the eviction of a house (Rome, January-March 2019).

Below are the addresses of the five imprisoned in the prisons of Terni, Latina, Alessandria, Roma Rebibbia femminile and Siracusa:

Nico Aurigemma
C. C. di Terni
strada delle Campore 32
05100 Terni
Italia – Italy

Francesca Cerrone
C. C. di Latina
via Aspromonte 100
04100 Latina
Italia – Italy

Roberto Cropo
C. R. “S. Michele” — Alessandria
strada statale per Casale 50/A
15121 Alessandria
Italia – Italy

Flavia Digiannantonio
C. C. di Roma Rebibbia femminile
via Bartolo Longo 92
00156 Roma
Italia – Italy

Claudio Zaccone
C. C. di Siracusa
strada Monasteri 20/C
Contrada Cavadonna
96014 Floridia (Sr)
Italia – Italy