Evidence needed for Genoa Trials/Investigations

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday February 19, 2003 00:11 by hydra hydrarchistnospam at yahoo dot com

Video footage and witnesses sought for Genoa

Hi,

Amongst the Irish contingent in Genoa, July 2001, there were a number of people documenting events with video equipment. Some of your footage could be important for the defense of those charged with offenses arising out of the police investigations, the prosecution of police officers and the reconstruction of events around Piazza Alimonda. Good photos of identifiable police engaged in violence would also be of use.

Below you'll find the appeal recently issued by Indymedia Italy and the GSF legal team.

cheers,
h.

Call for a collection of Video Materials

Seventeen months after the beatings by the police in Genoa the investigations are now concluding. Those who investigated the death of Carlo have decided that, in the context of the materials available to the prosecutor, Placanica acted to defend himself legitimately, firing a pistol shot in the air that, after having hit a stone, killed Carlo.

This decision is based principally on a study of the video images from Piazza Alimonda.
The same magistrate however, at the moment of asking for the dismissal of the case, did say that many people were to be seen with videocameras and cameras in their hands nearby Carlo, people who saw and filmed, but either did not want, or could not, contribute to the establishment of the truth. Now we're at the end of the investigation and, if we don't demonstrate that in Piazza Alimonda the truth lies elsewhere, the story will be closed.

Likewise the investigations of the massacre in the Diaz school and the beatings of Via Tolemaide are about to draw to a close. In these cases once again video images have been crucial. Also footage of that which took place during the whole evening opposite the Media Center, and during and after the police burst into the Diaz and Pasquali schools, could turn out to be fundamental in order to demonstrate what really happened. The Italian Police chiefs have lied or have been reticent before Parliament and the District Attorney of Genoa. The records from the interrogations given to the judges, which have appeared in the press, show this, But they are not enough.

We are still looking for victims and witnesses that it seems cannot be found and who could provide decisive testimony. And particularly we're looking for video footage because no testimony is stronger than that of the image. Many of the beatings in the streets of the city will be dismissed if it is not possible to identify those responsible and the arbitrary character of many of the arrests can only be proven using footage. In addition to the work of the lawyers, it is thus necessary that we activate every communications network so this material can be tracked down and made available so as to prevent the shelving of this Genoa in such a manner that there could be another Genoa.

Please make a copy of your footage and send it to:

Daniele Jenni (Lawyer),
Speichergasse 31,
3011 Berne
Switzerland.

Without Truth, No Justice.