Perugia – Dark Nights

Perugia, Italy: Further statements by anarchist comrades Matteo Monaco, Sara Ardizzone & Paolo Arosio at the Sibilla proceedings

Posted on 2025/02/03 - 2025/02/03 by darknights

Statement read by Matteo Monaco during the preliminary hearing in the Sibilla proceedings

I take the floor well pleased to be able to do so in person this time.

I would have liked to be here as early as October 10 on the occasion of the preliminary hearing that was then postponed, but unfortunately the work commitments to which I have to submit for a living and the one thousand five hundred kilometers separating my residence from this courtroom prevented me from doing so. I am not going to rage about the gross errors, certainly not mine, that led to the failures of notification against me and resulted in the postponement of the hearing. They qualify themselves. And they also qualify much more actually. I face this hearing, as well as the eventual trial that will ensue, with serenity. Aware that I have nothing to defend myself against in a political trial such as this one. Proud to be on the stand together with some of the comrades dearest to me. Happy to finally be able to greet to Alfredo and express all my closeness and solidarity with him. Determined to look those who claim the right to judge me in the face.

We are here because we have to answer, in particular, the charge of incitement to commit crimes for the purpose of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order. Good. I’m not interested in going into the merits of the charges, let alone, as already mentioned, defending myself against these crimes of opinion. What I am interested in is to make my considerations clear with respect to this charge.
In my conception of anarchism, as well as of life itself, there is no instigator-instigated binomial, there are no empty heads to be filled, there are no masses to be directed and steered, and I do not claim to instigate anything. The very term “instigation” has a negative, devious meaning, implying a kind of persuasion of the other by deception or trickery or manipulation. And that is precisely why, gentlemen, I believe that there is no better instigator of crime than the state itself. What do you think engenders feelings of revenge and revolt among the exploited and oppressed all over the world? The export of war or anarchists? Are you really convinced that if someone decides to take charge of his life and revolt, it is because the anarchists whispered it in his ear? Does it not occur to you that the systemic violence perpetrated through laws, institutions and repressive apparatuses, always directed toward the proletariat and always in defense of the bourgeoisie, may genuinely produce a backfire? What then is the question? If anarchism propagates ideas of revolt? Whether I as an anarchist point to the destruction of this miserable system? Of course I do. If I write and applaud theories and practices of subversion? That seems like an open secret to me.

The truth is that the state, capital, its apparatuses and their concrete personifications, including you, are afraid. Not afraid of anarchists let’s be clear, they are afraid that the situation will get out of hand, that the control they claim to have over the world may falter. Any sick system inevitably tends to put itself on the defensive, taking measures to try to maintain an internal balance and trying to annihilate threats, whether internal or external. The creaks of this imbalance can be felt just about everywhere, and slowly they are beginning to become more and more evident and, above all, the perpetrators increasingly clear in people’s eyes: economic disasters, environmental disasters, wars, pandemics. Crises, you know, generate discontent, discontent very easily turns into anger, anger triggers riots. And this, all of you, you certainly cannot afford. So you try to act in a preventive way, going to strike relentlessly at those who have already declared war on you for a century and a half and those who consider you enemies regardless of crisis and discontent, trying to prevent certain ideas from spreading among those who have begun to harbor a certain distrust and resentment toward you. Because they are dangerous ideas for your stability and for your comfortable places in ivory towers. Continue reading “Perugia, Italy: Further statements by anarchist comrades Matteo Monaco, Sara Ardizzone & Paolo Arosio at the Sibilla proceedings” →

Italy: Statement read by Michele Fabiani during the preliminary hearing in the Sibilla proceedings

Posted on 2025/02/02 by darknights

Statement read by Michele Fabiani during the preliminary hearing in the Sibilla proceedings

Legalitarian rhetoric sees trials as a moment in which truths are established, in which a person endowed with willpower must willingly or unwillingly assume responsibility with respect to malicious episodes. To the point that one is in effect acquitted when it is established that the accused is not of sound mind. I have never believed anything like that in my entire life: I think it is an ideological junk typical of bourgeois liberalism to crush necessity, need, material conditions, personal formation, innate impulses within the concepts of guilt and innocence. But today I want to follow, in the economy of this speech, the commonplace. Not least because today marks the likely beginning of a particular trial, a trial against books and newspapers.

What kind of truth does Operation Sibilla conceal? And what responsibility are the protagonists taking on?

For consistency I start with my own, of responsibilities. I have written articles, I have published and disseminated anarchist press, I have published anarchist books. I published, through Monte Bove Editions, the book Which International? by Alfredo Cospito and many others. And I am so proud of having done that, that just last October-in a deliberately provocative gesture toward the previous preliminary hearing-I printed its third edition.

However, there are responsibilities that will also have to be assumed by those who support the prosecution, in a trial in which the body of the crime are books and newspapers. I say this with extreme sincerity, I just do not understand how the state cannot comprehend such elementary evidence: since the world began, he who is censored, gagged, interned, tortured for his ideas gains popularity and fame from the very action of censorship. Everyone knows who Socrates and Giordano Bruno are, I don’t think anyone in here knows the names of Meleto or Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio.

Which side of the story do you sit on?

When it comes to accountability there is one that is greater than all and frankly crushes jurisprudential technicalities. When it comes to truth, I cannot be silent about the most shameful truth of this trial. As we discuss criminal procedure there is an elephant in the room. Right in here.

I just cannot keep quiet about the scandal that there is a co-defendant of mine, a comrade of mine, locked up in 41 bis and connected by video conference. When we talk about truth, no one can deny that this investigation played a central role in the decision to lock Alfredo Cospito up in 41 bis. The minister of justice spoke about it in parliament, chief prosecutor Cantone himself spoke about it during a hearing.

This is a scandal not only because 41 bis is an international disgrace, a torture prison regime to which no one should be subjected. Above all, it is a scandal because we anarchists say things clearly. In this book, Which International?, you will not find a cabal of cryptic messages. The writings of anarchists are not pizzas! Nor will you find orders, because anarchists have no leaders and take orders from no one. Continue reading “Italy: Statement read by Michele Fabiani during the preliminary hearing in the Sibilla proceedings” →

Italy: Statement of Alfredo Cospito during the preliminary hearing for the “Sibilla Trial”

Posted on 2025/01/29 by darknights

We publish the statements read by some of the anarchist comrades accused in the Sibilla trial in the preliminary hearing held on the 15^th of January in Perugia. Amongst the defendants, is also Alfredo Cospito, who attended by videoconference from Bancali prison in (Sardinia) where he is locked up in the 41bis regime, who read a statement. The hearing ended with a dismissal of all charges against all defendants, bringing to a conclusion an infamous case, which apart from aiming at the silencing of anarchist revolutionary publications, had a central role in Alfredo’s transfer to the 41bis regime. For a few hours Alfredo was able to hear the voices of his comrades, to see their faces, to speak, breaking the wall of silence in which they are trying to bury him. And this is certainly more stirring than any decision made by any state bureaucrat. In particular, Alfredo’s own words resonate as a powerful denunciation against the totalitarian horror of the 41bis regime. Those children’s handprints on the dividing glass in the visiting room should shake the consciences, of those who still have a conscience.

We do not know to what extent the intervention of the comrades in the courtroom somehow influenced the court’s decision not to venture into a shaky trial in itself. However, on January 15, it became clear that subsequent potential hearings would also undoubtedly provide an opportunity to intervene, breaking the wall of isolation of the 41bis, on behalf of Alfredo and the other accused comrades. Certainly, it should not take a trial like this one to initiate moments of mobilization against the international shame of 41 bis, and in Alfredo’s specific case, as of today the justifications for confinement in this special regime have one important piece missing. To make them pay the price for this contradiction, it is more urgent than ever to undertake other paths and revitalize initiatives against 41 bis and the warmongering and repressive policies of States.

Statement of Alfredo Cospito during the preliminary hearing for the “Sibilla Trial”

Today, you the representatives of the judiciary branch of this republic are putting us on trial for writing on the walls, for our words, for our books and magazines, forcing, as a matter of fact, anarchy into clandestinity. We are in good company, with this post-fascist government, censorship and repression are expanding to the entire social body, accelerating the transition from totalitarian democracy to a tragicomic opera regime. Saying this, I must thank you: after a year of silence, thanks to your embarrassing and anachronistic prosecution, I am allowed to express my thought publicly. Even if remotely, even if for the brief time of a blink of an eye, today I can tear off the gag, the medieval bridle of a 41bis that a moderate left-wing government applied to me years ago to silence an uncomfortable voice, for however minor and irrelevant, however surely an enemy of your democracy. These two years of special regime have most definitely opened my eyes to the true face of your law, of your constitutional rights, revealing to me a criminogenic system composed of an obscene, crude and murderous totalitarianism.

Today in this courtroom we are undergoing an inquisitorial trial based on an interview given through regular prison mail and not through a conversation with my sister in a prison visit as the prosecution wants us to believe, dragging her to the courthouse only for the mere fact of continuing undeterred to attend prison visits with her brother. It is a classic strategy of all authoritarian regimes, used regularly in the 41 bis regime, to burn all bridges with all emotional bonds at the exterior of the prison.

It is indicative, with every visit I attend, to see children’s handprints on the security glass that separates them from their fathers or mothers. But after all, what to expect from a democracy that puts children in prison? Continue reading “Italy: Statement of Alfredo Cospito during the preliminary hearing for the “Sibilla Trial”” →

Italy: Alfredo Cospito’s statement at the review hearing for the Operation Sibilla pre-trial measures

Posted on 2023/03/23 by darknights

Alfredo Cospito’s statement at the review hearing for the Operation Sibilla pre-trial measures

First, I wanted to begin with a quote from my instigator:

“Our system has introduced that figure of mortuary isolation that is 41 bis, and that in some respects is more uncivilized even than this pharmacological mutilation. This is to say that our system does not shine with civilization.”
Carlo Nordio, March 28, 2019

This was my instigator of the struggle I started. I never thought I would get this far, I always found melodrama ridiculous, I love comedy more, but that’s how it was. After all, are we or are we not the country of melodrama? And so I have to end on a high note. When I think about it, though, something ironic is there: I am the only asshole who dies in the progressive democratic West because he is prevented from reading and studying what he wants, anarchist newspapers, anarchist books, historical and scientific journals, without neglecting his beloved comic books.

You will admit that this is paradoxical and even a bit funny, I can’t live this way, I just can’t do it, I hope those who love me will understand. I can’t do it to surrender to this non-life, it is stronger than me, maybe because I am an anarchic Abruzzese stubborn. I am certainly not a martyr, martyrs make me somewhat repulsed. Yes, I am a terrorist, I shot a man and proudly claimed that deed even though, let me tell you, the definition makes a bit of a laugh in the mouth of representatives of states that have wars and millions of dead on their conscience and sometimes, like one of our ministers, get rich from the arms trade. But what can we do, that’s the way of the world, at least until anarchy triumphs and true socialism, the antiauthoritarian and antistatalist kind, finally sees the light of day. Tough luck you will say, and so will I, for now the only glimmers of light I see are the acts of rebellion by my revolutionary brothers and sisters around the world, and they are certainly no small thing, because they are done with heart, passion and courage, no matter how scattered and scrappy they may seem. Continue reading “Italy: Alfredo Cospito’s statement at the review hearing for the Operation Sibilla pre-trial measures” →

Perugia, Italy: Update on the review hearing for re-examination of the precautionary measures in ”operation Sibilla” and statements of some of the comrades under investigation

Posted on 2023/03/16 - 2023/03/16 by darknights

Source: La Nemesi
Via & translated to English by Act for freedom now!

————–

Update on the review hearing for re-examination of the precautionary measures in operation Sibilla and statements of some of the comrades under investigation (Perugia, 14th March 2023)

The hearing for re-examination of the precautionary measures for anarchists in operation Sibilla of 11th November 2021 took place on March 14th in the bunker courtroom inside the prison of Capanne in Perugia. It concerned the comrades for whom measures were ordered on charges of incitement to commit a crime (414 criminal code), aggravated by the aim of terrorism, in connection with the drafting, publication and distribution of the first six issues of the anarchist newspaper “Vetriolo” and other articles and interventions.

Among the comrades under investigation are Alfredo Cospito, on hunger strike for over 140 days, and Gianluca, currently under house arrest for a year now for the investigation Diamante.
This second re-examination resulted from the Court of Cassation’s ruling last June granting the prosecutor Manuela Comodi’s request, annulling the previous order of the review court which had revoked the precautionary measures in December 2021.

Alfredo Cospito participated in the hearing by video link from the Milan prison of Opera and three comrades under investigation were present in the courtroom in the Peurugia prison of Capanne. The hearing took place behind closed doors, while there were around 40 comrades in solidarity outside. The three comrades under investigation who attended the hearing in the bunker courtroom spoke (two of them with written statements) and each greeted Alfredo warmly. Alfredo made a long statement, in which he was very lucid and was loaded with his usual sarcasm (‘I prefer comedy to melodrama’).’I want to start with the words of my instigator,’ he began, quoting a stance of the current minister of justice Nordio going back to 2019 concerning 41 bis. The comrade then reiterated the meaning and perspective of the hunger strike against the detention regime, which he called a ‘medieval muzzle’ and a ‘metastasis that will spread to political dissent’. Alfredo said he does not accept this non-life and will go on until the end. “For anarchists, who have no organisation, the given word is everything.” That is why he will keep his word, going on to the bitter end. “I will leave with dignity. I hope that those who love me understand that.” The comrade wished to point out that, in the situation in which he is imprisoned, “the only remnants of light I see are the acts of my anarchist brothers and sisters around the world”, “Thank you anarchists. I love you”. Finally, he concluded: “Abolition of the 41 bis regime. Abolition of life imprisonment without parole. Solidarity with all anarchist, communist and revolutionary prisoners in the world”.

Unfortunately, due to the peculiarities of 41 bis, designed specifically to gag prisoners, Alfredo’s full statement is not currently available. We will release it as soon as possible.

After a ridiculous intervention by prosecutor Manuela Comodi who swore that the ‘Perugia public prosecutor’s office is totally uninvolved in the 41 bis measure’, in open contradiction with the words of her boss Cantone (also present in court today), the hearing was closed and the court reserved its decision on the precautionary measures against the investigated comrades.

The decision to move the venue of the hearing to the bunker courtroom of Capanne prison was an obvious attempt to remove the initiative in solidarity with Alfredo away from the city centre. This aim was not achieved because after the hearing the solidarity presence reconvened at the canteen of the University of Perugia, where a banner was unfurled, leaflets were distributed and megaphone interventions were held for over an hour.

Awaiting the release of Alfredo Cospito’s text, we attach below the statements of two comrades under investigation.
Continue reading “Perugia, Italy: Update on the review hearing for re-examination of the precautionary measures in ”operation Sibilla” and statements of some of the comrades under investigation” →

Italy: Update on the review hearing for the precautionary measures of Operation Sibilla: the hearing is moved to the bunker courtroom of Capanne prison (Perugia, March 14, 2023)

Posted on 2023/03/10 by darknights

Repressive forces have ordered the shifting of the review hearing for the precautionary measures of Operation Sibilla against the anarchists investigated for the publication of “Vetriolo,” scheduled for Tuesday, March 14. The hearing will no longer be held at the court of judges for preliminary investigations (the former Enel building, located in the city), but at the bunker courtroom inside the Capanne prison, also in Perugia (outside the city). This is a blatant, further attempt to silence our comrade, to make the solidarity movement invisible by literally gathering inside a bunker. It will mean that we will also take Alfredo’s battle to the inmates who are incarcerated in Capanne.

Because of this shift, the solidarity presence with Alfredo Cospito, who has been on hunger strike since October 20, will be held in front of the prison in Capanne, at strada regionale 220 Pievaiola No. 252, also starting at 08:30.

Get Alfredo out of 41 bis! To forget the prisoners of the social war is to forget the war itself! Revolutionary solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and all imprisoned anarchists and revolutionaries!

Below is the text of the poster:

SIBILLA STILL PREDICTS THE STORM

SOLIDARITY PRESENCE WITH ALFREDO COSPITO ON THE OCCASION OF THE RE-EXAMINATION HEARING FOR THE PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES OF OPERATION SIBILLA AGAINST THE ANARCHISTS INVESTIGATED FOR THE PUBLICATION OF ” VETRIOLO ”

Those who act against the state and the bosses have already matured such determination that they do not need to be “instigated,” because it is autonomy of thought and action that is expressed, not gregariousness and subordination to orders.

Alfredo Cospito has dedicated his life to an idea that he has continued to assert resolutely even in the face of the worst adversity, as he has been doing since October 20 with the beginning of his hunger strike to the bitter end.

Alfredo Cospito is not an “instigator,” but an anarchist, a revolutionary. The ideas he has always supported, the actions for which he has been convicted (or claimed, as in the case of the wounding of Adinolfi, an executive of Ansaldo Nucleare), represent the reasons for revolt and the need for revolution against the sirens of submission and resignation to this social reality.

SOLIDARITY PRESENCE, TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 8:30 A.M., CAPANNE PRISON, STRADA PROVINCIALE 220 PIEVAIOLA, 252, PERUGIA.

SOLIDARITY WITH ALFREDO COSPITO ON HUNGER STRIKE SINCE OCT. 20 AGAINST 41 BIS AND HOSTILE LIFE IMPRISONMENT

[Received by e-mail and posted at https://lanemesi.noblogs.org/post/2023/03/07/la-sibilla-prevede-ancora-tempesta-presenza-solidale-con-alfredo-cospito-in-occasione-delludienza-di-riesame-per-le-misure-cautelari-delloperazione-sibilla-perugia-14-marzo-2023/]

Italy: Update on Operation Sibilla: hearing set for Alfredo Cospito and other comrades under investigation at Perugia review court

Posted on 2023/02/21 by darknights

On Feb. 13, the setting of the review hearing on precautionary measures was notified for comrades targeted for measures in the November 11, 2021 Sibilla repressive operation (including Alfredo Cospito, who has been on hunger strike for more than 120 days, and Gianluca, who is currently under house arrest in the Diamante investigation by the Genoa prosecutor’s office). The hearing is set for March 14 at the court in Perugia.

This second re-examination stemmed from the hearing held on June 22 in Rome at the court of cassation, which concluded by granting prosecutor Manuela Comodi’s request, thus annulling the previous order of the review court (which on Dec. 16, 2021 had resulted in the revocation of the precautionary measures). The court of cassation, in spite of what had been expressed by the attorney general (who had called for the rejection of the Perugian prosecutor’s appeal), had thus “exhumed” the investigation by annulling the revocation of the measures and ordering a new review hearing.

Operation Sibilla, carried out by the Carabinieri’s Special Operational Group and the Perugia prosecutor’s office under the coordination of the National Anti-Mafia and Counterterrorism Directorate, played a key role in the genesis and application of the 41 bis detention order for comrade Alfredo Cospito.

Eight comrades (including Alfredo himself), previously investigated by the ROS and the Milan Prosecutor’s Office in another case for 270 bis c. p. (subversive association for the purpose of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order) and 414 c. p. (incitement to commit a crime, with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism) in connection with the editing, publication and distribution of the anarchist newspaper “Vetriolo,” had been the subject in September 2021, by the Perugia prosecutor’s office, of a request for precautionary measures in prison on the same charges, plus other charges for various reasons relating to additional articles, leaflets and documents, as well as wall writings and for one comrade to a damage to some Poste Italiane cars (Foligno, June 6, 2019) in solidarity with anarchist comrades on hunger strike over the closure of the High Security 2 section of the L’Aquila prison.

At the same time as this request for arrest, a three-month censure order on correspondence was ordered for comrade Alfredo Cospito, which was subsequently renewed several times. The reasons for this censure became clear only a couple of months later, when – with the November 11 operation – the Sibilla investigation “emerged” and PM Comodi’s original request was downgraded by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations. Thus, a new order established no longer eight arrests in prison but six precautionary measures in relation only to the charge of incitement to commit crimes with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism: an arrest warrant for Alfredo Cospito (at the time imprisoned in Terni Prison); house arrest with all restrictions for a comrade from Spoleto; and an obligation to stay in the municipality of residence jointly with the obligation to sign three days a week for four comrades. In addition, other comrades turned out to be under investigation at large, countless searches were carried out, and two websites (roundrobin.info and malacoda.noblogs.org) were subjected to preventive seizure and blacked out (a practically unprecedented fact as far as the Italian-speaking anarchist movement is concerned), remaining unreachable to this day with conventional search engines. Continue reading “Italy: Update on Operation Sibilla: hearing set for Alfredo Cospito and other comrades under investigation at Perugia review court” →

Perugia, Italy: Incendiary attack against some vehicles in front of Unicredit’s executive headquarters in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito on hunger strike

Posted on 2022/12/02 by darknights

We learn from local media, from an article published on Dec. 2, of an attempted arson attack against some vehicles parked in front of Unicredit’s executive headquarters, including a corporate vehicle of the bank, in Perugia’s Madonna Alta neighborhood. According to reports, the vehicles were not seriously damaged. On some were found the inscriptions ” Fire to the prisons” and ” Out Alfredo from 41 bis,” in reference to the all-out hunger strike against the 41 bis prison regime and hostile life imprisonment undertaken by the anarchist Alfredo Cospito since Oct. 20. Currently, other than the writings found by the repressive forces, no claim or communication regarding the attack appears to have been released.

Source: La Nemesi

Foligno, Italia: Giornate di discussione in occasione dell’apertura del Circolo Anarchico “La Faglia” (Foligno, 15-16 ottobre) IT/EN

Posted on 2022/10/01 - 2022/10/01 by darknights

Sabato 15 ottobre, ore 15:00.
A centocinquanta anni da Saint-Imier. L’attualità dei principi sviluppatisi nel congresso di Saint-Imier, le ragioni della nostra lotta, la teoria e la pratica dell’anarchismo tra internazionale, internazionalismo, autonomia nel metodo e nell’azione, solidarietà rivoluzionaria.
A seguire canzoni anarchiche vecchie e nuove, cena a buffet e sbicchierate.

Domenica 16 ottobre, ore 15:00.
Alfredo Cospito fuori dal 41 bis. Incontro su pratiche di solidarietà e progettualità rivoluzionaria.
A seguire cena a buffet.

Circolo Anarchico “La Faglia”
via Monte Bianco 23 — Foligno

e-mail: circoloanarchicolafaglia[at]inventati[dot]org
telegram: t.me/circoloanarchicolafaglia

Discussion days on the occasion of the opening of the Anarchist Circle ” La Faglia ” (Foligno, Oct. 15-16)

Saturday, October 15, 3 p.m..
One hundred and fifty years after Saint-Imier. The actuality of the principles developed at the Saint-Imier congress, the reasons for our struggle, the theory and practice of anarchism between the international, internationalism, autonomy in method and action, revolutionary solidarity.
Followed by anarchist songs old and new, buffet dinner and booze.

Sunday, Oct. 16, 3 p.m..
Alfredo Cospito out of 41 bis. Meeting on practices of solidarity and revolutionary projectuality.
Buffet dinner to follow.

Anarchist Circle “La Faglia”
via Monte Bianco 23 – Foligno

e-mail: circoloanarchicolafaglia[at]inventati[dot]org
telegram: t.me/circoloanarchicolafaglia