Italy: Updates & Reflections Regarding the Repressive Operation ‘Prometheus’
On May 21, 2019 the Carabinieri del Ros, led by prosecuting magistrates Piero Basilone and Alberto Nobili from the anti-terrorism pool of Milan, initiated the operation ‘Prometheus’ which led to the arrest of Natascia, Robert and Beppe accused of article 280 of the criminal code (attack with terrorist motives) in relation to the sending of some explosive envelopes to Roberto Sparagna and Antonio Rinaudo, prosecutors engaged for years in the repression of anyone who struggles against this world of cages and oppression, and to Santi Consolo, former director of the Department of Prison Administration, responsible for making prisons into real places of torture.
For months the three comrades were moved around in various prisons of the peninsula, placed in sections where they normally should not have been, such as the Islamic AS2 of Sassari and Rossano, the AS3 of Piacenza and the protected section of Pavia. On 2 December 2019, Robert, a prisoner in Sassari’s AS2, was released without any precautionary measures, and the decision came from the review court after the Court of Cassation in October had annulled the GIP’s (Judge for the Preliminary Investigations) order for lack of “serious indications of guilt”. The appeal for cassation had been requested for him and Beppe, and unfortunately Beppe had been rejected. A week later the zealous prosecutor opposed Robert’s release by lodging an appeal in cassation but the whole thing was rejected and declared inadmissible.
In mid-February the investigation was closed, and repeated requests for house arrest for Beppe and Natascia were rejected.
More than a year after the arrests, a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 22 at 10 a.m. at the Court of Milan. Under the excuse of the COVID, and above all of the type of crime contested, it would certainly have taken place by video conference, if it were not for the fact that the classrooms intended for remote connection are unusable due to the fire that destroyed several classrooms in the courthouse at the end of March. Natascia and Beppe may therefore be present in the courtroom, but the hearing will be behind closed doors.
Throughout their imprisonment, the state’s doggedness materialized with the arrogance of the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office, and in particular of the Prosecutor Basilone, who has been known for years for investigations in which he tried to bury comrades under years in prison, from the trials for various occupations, the clashes for the evacuation of the ex cuem in 2013, the investigation for devastation and looting after the no expo parade in 2015, until the Prometheus operation.
In this last investigation, Basilone’s inquisitorial omnipotence was characterized by the continuous requests for the transfer of the imprisoned comrades, in order not to let them come into contact with similar individualities under the pretext of a “potential pollution of evidence”. Transfers to Sassari, Rossano, Piacenza and Pavia were in fact requested by him, who then gave carte blanche to the prison administration to try new prison experiments and confining Beppe to disfigurement in the section of the protected in Pavia where rapists, the infamous and collaborators of justice are mostly locked up. In addition, the censorship of correspondence that lasted 6 months led to delays, disappearances of mail and difficulties in communication between prisoners and the outside world.
From the beginning of 2019 with the anti-anarchist operations Scintilla, Renata, Prometheus, with the heavy sentences resulting from the Scripta Manent trial, until the last two operations, Ritrovo and Bialystok, the prosecutors punctually withdrew the association accusation of 270 bis or 280 for the specific facts using ridiculous jumbles of alleged evidence to eliminate those experiences of solidarity between rebels, direct action against the state and its thugs, the fight against jails in all forms.
The state legitimises the immense violence that it exerts against people on a daily basis while labeling as “terrorism” the determination of those individuals who have the courage not to stand by and be complicit in this annihilating order in which the law of force and prevarication prevails.
We’re not interested in the distinction between guilty and innocent. In the face of this upside down world we reiterate our solidarity with Natascia, Beppe and Robert, with the comrades recently arrested in the Bialystok and Ritrovo operations, and with all those who are still locked up for the operations of the past years, and with all those individuals who continue to fight without fear and without compromise.
Details for contributing financial solidarity to the court and prison expenses of Natascia and Beppe:
– Postepay evolution
made out to Vanessa Ferrara
n° 5333 1710 9103 5440
IBAN: IT89U3608105138251086351095
– Postepay evolution
made out to Ilaria Benedetta Pasini
n° 5333 1710 8931 9699
IBAN: IT43K3608105138213368613377
ADDRESSES TO WRITE TO NATASCIA AND BEPPE:
NATASCIA SAVIO
C/O C.C. SAN LAZZARO
STRADA DELLE NOVATE 65
29122 PIACENZA, ITALY
GIUSEPPE BRUNA
C/O C.C. DI PAVIA
VIA VIGENTINA 85
27100 PAVIA, ITALY
FREEDOM FOR NATASCIA AND BEPPE
FREEDOM FOR EVERYBODY
(via Round Robin, translated into English by Anarchists Worldwide)
