Accusations enlarged to subversion for supporting the Iraqi resistance
On December 6 the examining magistrate of Pisa, Luca Salutini, followed the request of the public prosecutor, Antonio Di Bugno, issuing a new accusation against the comrades allegedly involved in the case of the “COR” (Cells of Revolutionary Offensive). William Frediani (member of the Anti-imperialist Camp detained in Pisa), Alessio Perondi (detained in Torino) as well as those comrades released in the last weeks are being additionally accused of “associating with the aim of subverting the democratic order” (…§ 270 bis of the penal code).
The date of issuance of the new accusation was not chosen by random. For the previous accusation of building a “criminal association” (…§ 416 c.2) the maximum pre-trial confinement is six months. Therefore the authorities would have had to release Alessio Perondi. Now the accused can be kept in custody for one year.
It is to be noted that the new accusations were enunciated without producing any new evidence. It is therefore a completely arbitrary act with political intentions which probably can be traced back to the Roman government. We should not forget that the campaign against the COR started with a declaration of the minister of interior, Pisanu, depicting the COR as public enemy no 1 and was seconded by an intelligence statement.
We are faced with illegitimate acts committed by a police state clearly violating the norms of the rule of law. The driving idea of the accusations is simply to keep the comrades in prison.
Regarding the case of Alessio Perondi, who is suffering from a grave illness, it is even worse: He has been shifted from the prison of Pisa, where there would have been the clinical means to cure him, to the prison of Prato and later to the prison of Torino where his health situation has definitively deteriorated. There he is kept in a cell into which water leaks in case of rain, only to give an example.
Especially against William Frediani a vicious press campaign is being launched led by “La nazione” turning him into the ideologue of the COR without any concrete evidence. To back their claim they quoted him as saying “we have to clearly affirm that the resisting people, especially the Iraqi and the Palestinian one, are no terrorists, but brave men and women fighting for the fundaments of freedom: self-determination”.
Thus everybody can understand the real reasons for the repression. They are the same ones why the Italian leaders of the Anti-imperialist Camp were arrested on April 1 and accused of terrorism – because they openly supported the Iraqi resistance!
We assist to the implementation of the new imperial law based on Americanism in line with the “clash of civilizations” waged by Bush. Whoever dares to tell the truth risks to end up in prison. Also therefore we have to step up our mobilisations.
Free William and Alessio!
Anti-imperialist Camp
Italy, December 7, 2004
