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GENOA 2001 – 2021

20 YEARS AFTER THE EVENTS IN GENOA IN 2001, VINCENZO VECCHI’S SUPPORT COMMITTEE LAUNCH AN APPEAL TO ALL DEMONSTRATORS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE COUNTER SUMMIT AND WHO SUFFERED OR WITNESSED THE VIOLENCE AND CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE ITALIAN STATE.

THE APPEAL

20 years after the bloody repression of the counter summit, the committee invite the 300,000 who demonstrated to take part in an act of solidarity with the « 10 of Genoa » and, in particular with an act of self-incrimination together with Vincenzo Vecchi by visual, audio and written.  By this means we hope to denounce the anti-democratic law of « devastation and looting » and « aiding and abetting ». We refuse that the « 10 of Genoa » serve as scapegoats for all the demonstrators.

Accusing yourself is an act of solidarity with Vincenzo and the 9 other demonstrators and proves that there were not just 10 but 300,000 in Genoa and that this victimization must cease…

If you cannot accept that a small number of demonstrators can be held as an arbitrary example in order to put an end to all kinds of contestation and to serve the interests of the State in its logic of terror and repression, this is your chance to defend the freedom to demonstrate!

It’s also a chance to denounce the repressive judicial arsenalinstalled at the heart of the European Union… 20 years after, and to manifest your vigilance regarding fundamental rights like that of the freedom to demonstrate!

THE CONTEXT

From July 19 to 22, 2001, 300,000 anti-globalization demonstrators were there to announce to the major powers that another world is possible.

Vincenzo Vecchi took part in the 2001 Genoan counter summit demonstrations. This is why he is one of the « 10 of Genoa » who as an example, were arbitrarily condemned.  Between the 10 they accumulated over 100 years of prison; Vincenzo was condemned to 13 years. To escape this unacceptable judgment he took refuge in France and is now the subject of a European Warrant issued by the Italian justice in 2018.

20 years after the events, the French Court of Cassation asked the European Court of Justice to adjudicate, even though both Appeal Courts (Rennes and Angers) had found against the European Court.   

All of this is freely based on an arsenal of judicial procedures founded on a fascist law (unearthed for the occasion) and is a crime known as « devastation and looting » linked to the notion of « aiding and abetting ». In other words, all demonstrators who take part passively in damage and minor offences caused during a demonstration can be pursued and condemned to sentences equivalent to a crime.  It’s guilt by intention, the presumption of innocence becoming that of guilt.  By introducing this disproportionate sentence, judicial repression attacks our fundamental rights and freedom to demonstrate.  Vincenzo’s support committee is fighting to promote this right and to prevent his return to Italy to suffer this unfair conviction. 

In 2021, in the European Union, is it possible to consider applying this law inherited from Mussolini?   

Note that Italy was convicted twice by the European Court of Human Rights for acts of torture committed during these bloody days. 

Also the Bolzaneto police station was the site of police beatings and torture of demonstrators. 

The Diaz school was ransacked, its occupants savagely beaten, and Molotov cocktails were left by the police in order to justify their acts (these proofs were upheld during the DIAZ school process).

All the police involved in these actions were amnestied.  Worse still, some of them were recently promoted.

The disproportionate repressive violence of the soldiers and police was the real cause of public order troubles.

And finally, we should remember that the case brought against the policeman who assassinated Carlo Giuliani was dismissed. 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

There are three ways you can send your testimony:

You can testify as you wish but we would prefer this in writing, audio or video.  The best would be to write a text of around thirty lines or to make a video of around a minute that we can put with others and distribute on our internet site and on other social networks.  

My name is [first name] and I was one of the 300,000 demonstrators in Genoa in 2001.  I witnessed or was a victim of police violence and consider that Vincenzo Vecchi and the other 9 demonstrators should not be scapegoats for this State repression. 
Vincenzo is in the dock and I stand alongside him as a fellow demonstrator. The right to demonstrate, to express ones ideas is not a crime but a fundamental right.  
I am a fellow defendant, I demonstrated and…

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