GENOA, March 12 - Police officers, prison guards and
medical staff accused of abusing protestors during the
2001 Genoa G8 summit have been charged with inhuman
and degrading treatment under Article 3 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. Numerous
protestors held at the Bolzaneto detention center near
Genoa in July 2001 have described the sadistic
treatment they received at the hands of officials,
including beatings, insults, kicks, punches and
threats.

A report by the ANSA newswire suggests that the public
prosecutors, Patrizia Petruzziello and Vittorio
Ranieri Miniati, opted for the "safer" choice of
inhuman and degrading treatment under Article 3 rather
than torture owing to "the duration of the treatment
in relation to the length of time the detainees were
held in the center." At today's preliminary hearing
into events at Bolzaneto, for which prosecutors have
requested 47 indictments, a 534-page memorial was
filed and explained to the preliminary hearing judge,
Maurizio De Matteis. Indictments have been requested
for 42 regular and high-ranking police officers - 15
from the regular state police, 16 from the
penitentiary police and 11 members of the Carabinieri
- as well as five medical practitioners, three of whom
women.

Prosecutors recalled how "Taline Ender, Massimiliano
Spingi and Sanchez Chicarro had chunks of hair lopped
off, Giuseppe Azzolina's hand was sprained, Ester
Percivati had her head shoved down a Turkish toilet,
Marco Bistacchia was forced to crawl around on all
fours and bark like a dog and Mohamed Tabbach was
beaten with an artificial limb".

They also recalled how guards humiliated Hinrrichs
Meyer Thorsten, who was forced to walk around the
courtyard wearing a cap depicting the hammer and
sickle, with a penis instead of the hammer.

The prosecution quoted a section from the book "Un
Anno Di Costituzione Italiana: Art.13" ("A Year Of The
Italian Constitution: Article 13") by Andrea
Camilleri. Referring to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal,
Camilleri wrote: "the eye is immediately drawn, not to
the dull-witted, sadistic satisfaction of the
torturer, but to the man being tortured, reducing him
to a thing, an object, an animal: he becomes a
training dummy [...] once a man, now just a dog on a
leash [....] no longer human, just a trembling piece
of flesh offered to wide-open canine jaws".

The statement, divided into five sections, first
explores the history of the provisional jail and
touches on the 252 transitory staff. This is followed
by parts looking at the initial investigations, the
organization, the crimes and who was responsible at
various levels, the actual perpetrators, and the
conclusions.

MANAGEMENT LEVEL - The section dealing with those in
charge at Bolzaneto names Deputy Police Chief
Alessandro Perugini and Chief Commissioner Anna Poggi
for the state police, both of whom are under
investigation. A number of individuals from the
penitentiary police are mentioned: Coordinating
Investigator Alfonso Sabella (against whom charges are
being dropped), General Claudio Ricci, General Alfonso
Mattiello, former colonel Oronzo Doria (under
investigation) and Inspector Antonio Biagio Gugliotta
(under investigation). Captains Pasquale Migliaccio,
Ernesto Cimino and Bruno Pelliccia are also named, all
former members of the now defunct Prison Guards
service.

"Obviously the top-ranking officials were not actually
standing outside cells guarding the detainees,"
explained the prosecutors. "However, the duty and
power to protect detainees is part of their job, as
well as the task of officials with the criminal
investigation department. "

MEDICAL AREA - The medical area set up inside the
Bolzaneto center should have provided detainees with
assistance and help, acting as a kind of safe zone
from abuse. Instead, said the prosecution, it became
another stage in the process of humiliation.

"It has emerged that encounters between the claimants
and the medical personnel occurred in conditions of
physical and moral subjection similar to the
conditions overall," wrote the prosecution. "It should
not be forgotten that triage was taking place at the
tent entrance. In practice, this meant immediately
after the 'welcome committee', so the doctor was
therefore often mistaken for a policeman."

THE CHARGES - The charges include abuse of office,
criminal coercion, abuse of authority against
detainees or those under arrest, fraud, and the
violation of penitentiary regulations and the European
Convention on Human Rights.

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