‘Subversive Association’

Italy: Arrests and search operations between Pisa and the Apuan Alps in relation to the 2023 attack on the Pisa courthouse

Posted on 2025/09/16 by darknights

ARRESTS AND SEARCH OPERATIONS BETWEEN PISA AND THE APUAN ALPS IN RELATION TO THE 2023 ATTACK ON THE PISA COURTHOUSE (ITALY)

On the morning of 11 September, a police operation coordinated by the DDAA [District Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate] in the main city of Tuscany and conducted by the DIGOS [General Investigations and Special Operations Division] in Pisa and Florence took place in the municipalities of Carrara, Montignoso, Pisa and Sarzana. The operation appears to have been named “Delivery”.

According to our information, two anarchist comrades who are subject to a preventive custody order under house arrest (it is not yet known if there are any particular restrictions; updates will follow) were arrested in Pisa and Carrara. The comrades – who were already searched on 26 March in relation to the same acts – are under investigation for “terrorist acts involving lethal or explosive devices” and other related crimes. This is part of the proceedings concerning the attack on the Pisa courthouse on 21 February 2023. We would also like to point out that the comrades were involved in the 2023 “Scripta Scelera” operation, which was orchestrated by the Genoa DDAA against the internationalist anarchist fortnightly journal “Bezmotivny” (and which was essentially “shipwrecked” during the trial held in Massa against four defendants).

According to the latest information, the other comrades involved in this operation were only searched at home and in their vehicles. This was also in relation to the crime of “subversive association with the purpose of terrorism or subversion of the democratic order”.

Every day, in every court, hundreds of exploited people are sentenced. By means of sentences, men and women are buried in prisons and their friendships and love relationships are mutilated. By means of explosives, structures will be hit and men of power will be mutilated. For every death at sea, in prison, at work, in the CPRs, not one, but 100 bombs against the masters. Your cameras and guards patrolling the city will never be enough to prevent action from penetrating your buildings”, read the statement of claim by Gruppo di Solidarietà Rivoluzionaria – Consegne a Domicilio [Revolutionary Solidarity Group – Home Deliveries] (joining the FAI-FRI), concerning the action against the court. This action was part of an intense mobilisation against 41 bis prison regime and life imprisonment without parole, and was carried out in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito, who was on hunger strike for over 120 days at the time. “Solidarity with all revolutionary prisoners around the world. Support social struggles with revolutionary struggle”, the text concluded.

ALONGSIDE THE ARRESTED COMRADES
A couple of those searched

UPDATE: The comrades are under house arrest with all restrictions (no communication or visits allowed).

Anna Beniamino: Pathophysiology of the prison monster: poisons and antidotes (October 2024)

Posted on 2025/02/07 - 2025/02/07 by darknights

Anna Beniamino: Pathophysiology of the prison monster: poisons and antidotes (October 2024)

Article translated and published in Spanish in “Tinta de Fuga,” periódico anárquico contra las prisiones y la sociedad carcelaria, no. 7, segundo semestre 2024.

PHYSIOPATHOLOGY OF THE PRISON MONSTER:
POISONS AND ANTIDOTES

Stories of mice and men

In pharmacology laboratories, antidepressants are tested with an experiment of exquisitely human cruelty: a mouse, drugged or “nature,” is submerged in a glass cylinder half-filled with water and the time of desperate swimming before immobility overtakes is calculated.
Usually the rodent without psychotropic support tries to climb along the cylinder and jump for 5 minutes before giving up; antidepressants lengthen desperate swimming attempts by a few minutes before resignation overtakes.
Stripped of the cynicism it conveys, the Porsolt or “desperate swimming” test is a useful allegory to illustrate the current situation in Italic jails and this summer’s trickle of suicides and riots in the overcrowded, dilapidated communal sections1, a charcoal of forced cohabitation in cramped spaces, in a word humiliating human dignity: drug-induced apathy and depression, the ubiquitous “therapy,” desperate attempts at reaction that often take self-harming forms, backyard hegemonies, desolidarization, childish brawls, where there is a constant pouring of suggestions and models from TV dramas, which is then the lobotomizing diversion that overcomes “therapy” in the pervasive echoing from cell to cell.
To the pathological infantilization of the individual, the prison works methodically, depriving him not only of freedom of movement, but also of that of minimal choice in the course of the day: the idiotic and incomprehensible regulations, the extreme bureaucratization of every minutia of daily survival. Depersonalizing mechanisms that deprive one’s humanity, the application of which essentially serves to establish the pressure of the repressive structure (and the individual’s capacity for resistance or adaptation), are handled aseptically, feeding a meat grinder where reactions can cover the entire range between anesthetized apathy and revolt as an assertion of subsistence in life rather than claim.
This Dantesque bedlam is overlaid and counterbalanced by the fragmentation and consequent isolation of differentiated sections and circuits. In most compas one finds oneself as well as in small numbers, divided from the rest of humanity in chains, locked between high-security sections and, even more isolated, in 41bis2 circuits.
High-security sections have an additional internal separation to avoid contact between those accused of “terrorism,” domestic and international (AS2) and those of “mafia-style criminal conspiracy” (AS3) and related offenses, to avert, in the eyes of the legislature, monstrous criminal chimeras due to cross-species interbreeding3. Or, more prosaically, even if only to prevent the spread of a basic knowledge of one’s rights as a prisoner, a subject on which political prisoners are normally better versed, as they come from more literate backgrounds on the subject and are more prone to the consequent dialectic.
In AS, with the rubber stamp of the “mafia” or “terrorism” formula, an opposite strategy is applied to the overcrowded common sections: separation between prisoners, removal from the place of residence to make contact with family members more difficult, reduced contact with the outside world (fewer interviews, 4 hours monthly, and fewer phone calls, 2 monthly of 10 minutes each), heavier sentences, with less if any possibility of alternative sentences under the aegis of 4bis o.p. 4.
Then there is 41bis, the bottom of the well, the bottleneck of the repressive funnel where it is easier to get in than to get out, in the highest degree5, with a further exacerbation of solitary confinement, intracarceral and extracarceral: a one-hour interview per month with partitioned glass and audio-video recording; almost total postal censorship; limitation of items allowed in the cell, including books and music CDs, the purchase of which is in any case made very difficult, if not impossible; one hour of air time per day in cramped, netted yards and with socializing with up to three other prisoners (in fixed groups selected by management).
This prologue, unpleasant, is to explain a minimum the difficulties and contradictions experienced, as antiauthoritarians, in facing and fighting prison these days in these shores.
The strategy of isolation, sterilization of human contacts and rescission of solidarity networks is obviously not an Italian prerogative but, as our Chilean comrades are well understanding, a practice that is spreading and being perfected there as well, as in the aggravation of Francisco’s conditions of isolation and the restructuring of the Alta Seguridad. Just as everywhere the restructuring of detention facilities combines punitive logics toward the individual refractor with those of a “Fordist” efficiency of preventive repression aimed at creating compartmentalized and incommunicative levels to more effectively and aseptically manage control, inside as well as outside. Continue reading “Anna Beniamino: Pathophysiology of the prison monster: poisons and antidotes (October 2024)” →

Komotini, Greece: Reoccupation of Anarchist Steki Utopia A.D., book presentation event of ‘Which International?’ + Intervention by comrade Francesco Rota from Vetriolo newspaper

Posted on 2024/06/02 - 2024/06/06 by darknights

On Wednesday 29 May we reoccupied the Anarchist Steki Utopia A.D. where we held the planned event on the book presentation of the interview of the anarchist nihilist Alfredo Cospito in the anarchist Italian newspaper Vetriolo, a telephone intervention and an information from an Italian comrade about the 41BIS regime and the current situation in Italy, while a text was sent by a comrade of the newspaper Vetriolo which was translated into Greek and read at the event, followed by an update from a comrade on the new penal code and the event ended with a discussion, after some questions were asked to the Italian comrade.

In the area there were tables with texts, stickers, posters, pamphlets and books as well as a poster exhibition and a banner for the occupations. The event was attended by 20 people.

It should be noted that when we approached the site, there were about 10 people from the technical service in order to prevent the occupation and the event. Of course, they did not succeed. What we made clear to them is that not only the dean and the cops are our enemies but also any others who stand against us. The issue of the evacuation of the compound is clearly political and provocative since guards were placed in our area. The idiots in the technical department have no business getting involved in political issues.

There are no excuses that they are following orders and are afraid of being fired, nor do we care since none of the workers of the technical service bother to understand what they are asking us to understand. If they have labour problems with their bosses they can find ways of fighting their class, we will not spare any fearful minions of the enemy.

From now on anyone who comes across us will be treated as they chose to be…

Nothing is over Everything continues Continue reading “Komotini, Greece: Reoccupation of Anarchist Steki Utopia A.D., book presentation event of ‘Which International?’ + Intervention by comrade Francesco Rota from Vetriolo newspaper” →

Italy: ‘The carousel of repression’ – Anna Beniamino

Posted on 2024/04/23 - 2024/04/23 by darknights

THE CAROUSEL OF REPRESSION

Almost eight years after the arrests for Scripta Manent, for the second time the Court of Cassation, on 24th April 2024, will pronounce judgement on the crime of “political massacre”, pursuant to art. 285 c.p., against Alfredo and myself, the last remaining fragment pending in the process (i), after a whirlwind of delays, recalculations, and repressive-jurisprudential manipulations (ii).

Although the repetition of error numbs the horror, and we are living in times of multiple horrors flaunted and total anaesthetisations, I believe there are still some words to be said about the ongoing annihilation attempt, about reactions, successful and attempted. Not so much because I believe this may be useful for our personal fates, but out of a kind of stubborn “romanticism” that considers silence and resignation always and even more lethal in a political process.

Having no inclination to resign silently to the administration of “justice” (as it happens daily in the prisons) and nor to be restricted by the logic of damage limitation (another cornerstone of survival between prison and courts), but shifting the focus to the repressive policies underlying this and the actual capacity to react, to create moments of struggle and rupture, to build barriers, individual and collective, against the arrogance of repression.

I have spoken of error and horror because that is what repressive policies are at their core, errors and horrors that blend together in completely distorting the theoretical and practical significance of the enemy, burying them alive and/or forcing them into defensive entrenchment and the Indian reserves of “counterculture” and the pursuit of “democratic indignation” (which by now is little more than an Indian reserve, with a threshold of sensitivity that more often than not is an impenetrable callousness in most), a strategy that weakens the reactivity of comrades in the short term, more than they may believe, in a sense of inevitability of events and the impossibility of constructing reactions.

Seven years ago, I thought it was possible to manage the Scripta Manent process as ordinary repression, countering from a technical perspective, point by point, both individual events and the entire associative framework, given the clear fragility of the accusatory structure. There was an excess of optimism about the ongoing political will and strategies and an unforgivable shortsightedness in not immediately highlighting with greater force what was happening. It took the threat of 41bis and life imprisonment looming to focus eyes and attention.

Far from wanting to fall back into the rhetoric of “judicial error,” of excess, because from a jurisprudential and probative standpoint, that was precisely the fact that some mainstream media had to reluctantly admit (while others held firm on their sensationalism) in order to justify the anarchist under 41bis. They had to contextualise the events and the character with a certain embarrassment, and also place the heart of the State, its security – endangered precisely what characterises political massacre – within a couple of exploded bins at 3 a.m. on the perimeter walls of a barracks, while having to awkwardly sidestep the other script holes offered by DNAA and the Turin prosecutor’s office.

Far from a “judicial error” because this is a deliberate intent, with convergences between paper castles of the police headquarters and cages of cement over cement: the episodic component (the career of individual cops or magistrates, the media always ready to hype up the new danger, the crassest propaganda) is there, but it converges into a well-oiled machine that always needs new heads to be cut off and displayed on the ramparts of law and order. Sometimes the machine stalls… and it is the duty and pride of every anti-authoritarian to make it stall.

In these years of prison time and trials, I have had the opportunity to experience firsthand a series of logical and legal manipulations that I didn’t think could be possible to concentrate in a single operation, making me equally aware that it is the modus operandi in practice between public prosecutors and courts in the extension of “special” legislation, from “emergency” to “daily”, in the fields of anti-mafia and anti-terrorism: no longer an exception, but the usual management that the National Anti-Mafia Directorate applies and has been applying to cases involving organised crime extended to anarchists, and that the justice system in general applies to those segments of social opposition and non-conforming elements that are isolated and easily attackable, which still express, albeit in a rudimentary form, the need to reclaim the streets, the word, and the dignity of a non-negotiated opposition. A synergistic attack – fuelled by a political climate not just of a simple right-wing government but equivalent in the last “political” or “technical” governments that wanted to define themselves – against the irredeemable components for electoral purposes: in a general lowering of the bar for criminally punishable acts and the parallel increase in what can be sensationalised in the media, one can discern the strategies at work and the resistance to be opposed.

In this sense, I believe Juan’s (iii) writings in capturing the positive aspects, if not the need to put a stop to them, in addition to the necessary critical and self-critical questions of the movement, are clear. Continue reading “Italy: ‘The carousel of repression’ – Anna Beniamino” →

Italy: Operation ”Scripta Scelera” against the fortnightly “Bezmotivny”: first initiatives in solidarity, a brief update, some observations

Posted on 2023/08/22 by darknights

Soidarity is our weapon! Actforfree receive and translated and spread :

pdf italian :

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Operation ”Scripta Scelera” against the fortnightly “Bezmotivny”: first initiatives in solidarity, a brief update, some observations

In the early morning of Tuesday, August 8th, a repressive operation – ridiculously named Scripta Scelera (these fine people always come up with some “ambitious” or suggestive name for their operations) [Latin: “written crimes”] – was unleashed by the State’s repressive apparatus in various cities. It was aimed at shutting down the anarchist internationalist fortnightly magazine “Bezmotivny”, thereby striking the action of publication of analysis and reflection as well as, and in particular, texts claiming actions, sabotage and initiatives of attack undertaken by anarchists and revolutionaries throughout the world against the State and capital.

Let’s take a brief look at the facts. Mainly involving anarchist comrades in Carrara and the “Gogliardo Fiaschi” Anarchist Cultural Circle, the operation consisted of notification of an investigation against 10 comrades, all of whom were subjected to house searches (as well as that against the above-mentioned anarchist circle), and significant seizures of newspapers and various publications. Concerning the 10 under investigation (for whom Genovese public prosecutor Manotti twice requested their arrest in prison), the judge for the preliminary investigations ordered house arrest with all restrictions (including electronic ankle bracelets, which were not applied due to lack of the necessary equipment) for four of the comrades, a night curfew from 19.00 to 7am for another five, while one comrade has no restrictions (at the police station they notified him of a two years’ compulsory expulsion order from the province of La Spezia). One of the comrades under house arrest was initially taken to prison on order of the same prosecutor, due to the fact that he did not have a certificate of residence. In the context of the operation, a printing press in Avenza, where the paper had recently been printed, was also shut down (and later re-opened).

Continue reading “Italy: Operation ”Scripta Scelera” against the fortnightly “Bezmotivny”: first initiatives in solidarity, a brief update, some observations” →

Italy: ‘How does it change?’ (Come si cambia?) from the 12th issue of the internationalist anarchist newspaper “Bezmotivny”

Posted on 2023/08/14 - 2023/08/14 by darknights

DN Note: On 8th August a repressive operation has been inflicted upon 10 comrades, resulting in four house arrests with all restrictions, five residence obligations with overnight return, and one comrade in prison due to not having proof of residence. All are accused of the charge of subversive association for the purpose of terrorism (art. 270 bis c. p.) and incitement to commit crimes (art. 424 c. p.) aggravated by the purpose of terrorism, in connection with the publication, as of 2020, of the fortnightly internationalist anarchist “Bezmotivny,” as well as offense to the honor and prestige of the president of the republic and clandestine printing.

We translate and reproduce below the editorial from the last publication of Bezmotivny No.12 ‘Come si cambia?’ (How does it change?)

More about the unfolding operation: https://darknights.noblogs.org/post/2023/08/11/italy-crackdown-operation-against-anarchist-newspaper-bezmotivny/

How does it change?

Within the Italian anarchist movement, is the need and importance of a printed newspaper still felt? In a world dominated by digital and immediacy, is it still subversive and revolutionary to print and disseminate a material tool of anarchist propaganda?

These are two questions that we have been asking ourselves over the two and a half years that the fortnightly “Bezmotivny” has been out, and which become all the more urgent now, at a time when the paper has been going through, unfortunately for several months already, a deep crisis that seriously threatens its existence.

Yes, comrades, “Bezmotivny” is in danger of never coming out again, seriously beset by two fundamental problems.

The first is financial: there is no more money to be able to pay for the printing and mailing of the newspaper. The fact is that nearly 50 percent of subscribers have not yet renewed their subscriptions for the current year, although they continue to receive the periodical. In addition, some places that receive 5 or 10 copies to disseminate it have long since stopped sending us money from newspapers sold. Add to this the increases in paper and shipping costs, and that’s it.

The second problem involves both the editorial staff and, in our opinion, the anarchist movement itself. The editorial staff, inasmuch as only 3 or 4 comrades are now left to work constantly for the release of each issue of the journal, while the others make minimal material contributions. The movement, in that the initial project of “Bezmotivny” to enlarge the editorial area to include other and different comrades outside the Carrara area (from which the idea of the fortnightly came and which saw comrades give heads and arms to the paper) has essentially failed. Failed both in the enlargement of the editorial staff itself and as contributions on certain issues or debates. Because, if there were contributions at certain times, these were unfortunately occasional and did not lead to more constant collaboration on the part of the comrades involved, as was the initial intention of the paper. Collaboration that, beyond the articles or interventions sent, also concerned the diffusion of the periodical within the area of anarchism to which it, for good or ill, referred, and that if on the part of some realities was constant and passionate, on the part of many others unfortunately did not develop. Continue reading “Italy: ‘How does it change?’ (Come si cambia?) from the 12th issue of the internationalist anarchist newspaper “Bezmotivny”” →

Italy: Statements of Alfredo Cospito & Anna Beniamino at the hearing on June 19, 2023 at the Turin Court of Appeals

Posted on 2023/06/25 by darknights

We are circulating Alfredo Cospito’s statement at the June 19 hearing in the court of appeals in Turin on the calculation of sentences against Alfredo himself and Anna Beniamino as part of the Scripta Manent trial. The comrade was connected via video-conference from the Bancali prison in Sassari (as known, the regulations do not require in-person presence). Replications and sentencing against the comrades are postponed to a later hearing scheduled for Monday, June 26, at 12 noon, also at the Turin court.

Alfredo Cospito: Statement at the June 19, 2023 hearing at the Turin Court of Appeal

This statement of mine is closely related to the trial because it goes into the merits of the sanctioning treatment you imposed on me. Sanctioning treatment that is unconstitutional and contradicts your own laws. Sanctioning treatment, 41 bis, that distorts the very meaning of my imprisonment, imposing on me a senseless censure that limits my right to defense.

It is obvious to all how my trial affair has been used as a sort of cudgel by one political party, “the government,” against another political party, the so-called “opposition.” My last-minute transfer from one section to another in anticipation of the arrival of PD parliamentarians is a striking example. Which shows how the DAP and 41 bis have been exploited for political purposes.

These facts are closely related to this trial because they are the product of past political dynamics that led to our disproportionate prosecution and conviction for political slaughter. To shut my mouth now, at the only time I can defend myself would mean endorsing this dangerous and totalitarian drift. Before talking about Fossano and the so-called “massacre” (although there is little to say, it would be enough to look at the images of the damage of the tremendous explosion) for just two minutes I will have to mention three deaths, two of which I am somehow responsible for, the third death that of Cosimo occurred at the clinical center of Opera, ward 41 bis. Continue reading “Italy: Statements of Alfredo Cospito & Anna Beniamino at the hearing on June 19, 2023 at the Turin Court of Appeals” →

Napoli + Pozzuoli, Italy: Raids on houses of comrades in connection to a 270 bis investigation into attacks in solidarity with revolutionary prisoner Dimitris Koufontinas

Posted on 2023/04/01 - 2023/04/01 by darknights

On March 28, two houses, one in Napoli and one in Pozzuoli, were raided and four comrades were taken to the police station, in connection with a 270 bis investigation (anti-terrorist association), which was officialized in May 2022 following several house-searches.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, one comrade was placed under preventive arrest, accused of an arson attack against the Greek consulate in 2021. The prosecution contextualizes this attack within the campaign in solidarity with revolutionary Greek prisoner Dimitris Koufontinas, who at the time was on hunger strike.

The comrade has now been taken to the Secondigliano prison and is placed in the AS2 section (high security unit), while the three other comrades were released. According to the case’s files, the timing of the arrest was influenced by the relentless solidarity actions with Alfredo Cospito, an anarchist prisoner currently on hunger strike against the 41 bis regime and life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

This operation is part of a witch hunt that wants to frame anarchists as a public enemy to be eliminated. In the context of the countless actions in solidarity with Alfredo in Italy and abroad, we clearly see this repressive blow as part of the state’s attempt is to stifle every and any spark of rebellion.

When faced with repression, our solidarity will never stop.

Assembly against prisons and repression

To write to Zac:

Marco Marino

c.c. di secondigliano

via Roma verso Scampia 350

80144 Napoli (Na)

Italy

For those who wish to support to Zac, anarchist prisoner locked up in Secondigliano following the repressive operation in Napoli and Pozzuoli on March 28, 2023, contributions can be sent here:

Luca D’Esposito

IBAN IT07V3608105138299544199741

BIC PPAYITR1XXX

Italy: ‘To burning hearts’ Statement of the anarchists accused at the trial for Operation Renata

Posted on 2023/02/21 - 2023/02/21 by darknights

Four years after the repressive operation Renata on February 19, 2019, we publish – not for an aseptic “exhumation” of recent history, but because these are texts that address the profound social and individual reasons for the anarchists’ thought and action – the statement of the seven comrades accused during the first-degree trial (“To Burning Hearts”) and a second statement distributed during the appeal trial. In addition, we believe it is important and necessary to find and disseminate the statements of comrades who, during the trials, take the floor continuing to support the ideas and practices of attack against the state and capital.

To burning hearts

Statement of the anarchists accused at the trial for Operation Renata

The anarchist does not look to success, to victory, to competition. He fights, because it is right. And in any struggle loss is part of life. He does not change his mind because he loses, much less give up the next struggle. The System is self-feeding because of the people who do not fight, not because they are invincible. The anarchist’s job is to instill in the people revolt, not in segments but continuous. Like a wave that recedes and then returns. You ask me if we will win? You ask me the wrong question. Ask me if we will fight and I will answer yes.
Luigi Galleani

Today we decided to have our say on the “Renata” operation. In other writings, the investigation has been analyzed, both in its general repressive aspects of the state and with regard to the technological, inquisitorial and legal tools used to hit those who still dare to fight for something different and still blow on the wings of freedom.

We have decided not to turn to the court that will try us nor to the diligence of our repressors. A courtroom is not the place where we choose to speak today.

We want to speak in those places where there is struggle, where there is still critical spirit, wherever there are women and men who are aware that so many things must be changed now, that this state of affairs must be revolutionized.

So we are going to talk about the actions that we are accused of or that are included in the investigation.

These actions-night or day, individual or collective-are part of a conflict that goes far beyond the specific facts or the territory in which they are located. They are the result of a broader clash, that between the exploited, the exploiters and those who defend them.

Of these actions we share the spirit, the ethics, the method, the goals, regardless of who carried them out. They speak for themselves, they are understandable to most, they point to a path – that of liberation. They point the finger at those who live by exploitation and war, hatred and violence, they wish for something more, something that will put an end to the worst atrocities and barbarities, but above all they aim to destroy the wall of resignation, in times so poor in human solidarity, rebellion, critical thinking.

Those who in recent years have said and still say that such actions serve no purpose, that the game is not worth the candle, that nothing will change, that human beings have permanently lost their wits by reducing life to a constant fratricidal war, have stopped dreaming, have stopped questioning those responsible for injustice and the causes that have brought society to a moral, environmental and material level that is disturbing to say the least. Continue reading “Italy: ‘To burning hearts’ Statement of the anarchists accused at the trial for Operation Renata” →

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” →